


The Songs in Our Hearts: Reaching Out

by Pigeon_Ker



Category: Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts
Genre: F/F, F/M, Kingdom Hearts I, M/M, Music
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-28
Updated: 2019-08-28
Packaged: 2020-09-28 13:04:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 24
Words: 40,154
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20426450
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pigeon_Ker/pseuds/Pigeon_Ker
Summary: Three friends who longed to see the outside world. Two siblings trying to find their way back home. One sky to connect them all.At long last, the raft Sora and his friends - Riku and Kairi - is nearly complete, and that means that they'll finally be able to travel beyond the ocean that surrounds the Destiny Islands. Strange occurrances may have been happening recently, but nothing will stop the three of them from seeing what's out there. At the same time in the world of Northpointe, Harmonia is getting ready to face the single most challenging task in all worlds: meeting new people. After watching his sister spend most of her time holed up in her room, Coda is determined to bring Harmonia into his friend group. A storm is brewing for both groups however. Trouble has stirred at Disney Castle with King Mickey's disappearance; his last message entrusts Donald Duck and Goofy with the job of "finding the key".While their paths begin separated, they will soon weave together to tell one story.





	1. Island Days

As the large, shadowy creature slammed its fist to the ground, Sora jumped onto its arm and ran up to the face. Sora had no idea what this thing was, but he was sure of one thing: it was ugly. The creature’s face was hidden behind hair-like tentacles, and from within those tentacles, beady, yellow eyes seemed to glow.

Sword in hand, Sora slashed at the face, and the creature stepped back in pain. The violent movements from the monster caused Sora to fall onto the ground.

“Hah! That’s what you get!” Sora teased the creature as it stumbled back. Putting a hand on his hip, Sora spun the blade he had gotten earlier and positioned it behind his head.

Then the sword disappeared.

As the sword dissipated into thin air, the monster recovered. Shocked, Sora jumped further away, but the beast only slammed both its fists into the floor, violently shaking the platform beneath them. Sora’s gaze was fixated on the creature and the darkness that began spreading from it. He failed to notice the shadows form on the floor beneath him until he started to sink into the ground.

— _But don’t be afraid,_ Sora heard a distant voice say. How was he not suppose to be scared when the darkness surrounding him was pulling him in? The boy struggled to free himself from the shadows, but they kept dragging him deeper and deeper. The voice came again, _You hold the mightiest weapon of all,_ it spoke in a soothing tone, and Sora reached a hand up to where it sounded like the voice was coming from.

More shadows swarmed Sora now; the scenery was being obscured. Sora could not move his limbs anymore as the darkness had them pinned down. Unsure of what to do, the brunette looked up for a sign. The shadows covered his face, and he found himself being unable to breath.

_So don’t forget: You are the one who will open the door._

The first thing Sora heard was the waves from the island move up and down the shore. Blinking rapidly against the light of the afternoon sun, the teen sat up and looked at the blue-green ocean before him. _When did I get here?_ he thought, trying to recall the last thing he did. After a few seconds, Sora came up blank— he couldn’t remember anything besides the dream.

Yawning, he attempted to lay back down on the warm, white sand, only to be met with a girl’s face out of nowhere.

“Whoa!” Sora shouted, sitting up immediately. He turned to face his friend. A bright smile formed on the girl’s face as she laughed, causing Sora’s cheeks to heat up. “Gimme a break, Kairi,” he muttered, both embarrassed and relieved that it was only her and not Riku who found him.

“Sora, you lazy bum,” she joked, putting her hands behind her back. Kairi had a mischevious smirk on her face. “I knew I’d find you snoozing down here.” Sora frowned at her statement.

“No! This huge black _thing swallowed me up_!” he started explaining, trying to make sense of the events from before he woke up. “I couldn’t breath, I couldn’t— OW!” Looking back up at Kairi, Sora rubbed the spot where she had hit him.

The girl bent down to his level and asked, “Are you still dreaming?” Her voice sounded like a mixture of disappointment and disbelief.

“It wasn’t a dream!” he pouted, but then he thought for a moment. “Or was it? I don’t know,” the boy murmured, his blue gaze staring at the white sand. _Maybe it was a dream. It’s not like shadows come to life and pull you into the ground,_ he reasoned. “What was that place? So bizarre…” Sora said to himself in a quiet voice so that Kairi would not hear him and think he lost his mind.

“Yeah, sure,” he heard the girl say. Sora watched as the red-head walked to the shore. The gentle waves lapped lazily at her shoes. 

As an attempt to change the subject and hide his embarrassment, Sora asked, “Say, Kairi, what was your hometown like? You know, where you grew up.” Kairi ceased her steps once she reached the water.

“I’ve told you before, I don’t remember,” she answered, her pale-blue eyes fixated on the horizon. Sora tilted his head at her response.

“Nothing at all?” he tried again.

“Nothing,” Kairi reiterated with an apparent drop in tone.

“Do you ever wanna go back?” Sora inquired, wondering if Kairi really wanted to leave the islands.

Kairi hummed as she thought about Sora’s question before replying, “Well, I’m happy here.” Her cheery attitude was back.

“Really…” the spiky-haired boy murmured, relieved to hear that Kairi was happy on the islands.

“But you know…” Kairi started to say. “I wouldn’t mind going to see it,” she dreamed out loud, her head tilted up towards the sky. Sora smiled at this.

“I’d like to see it too,” Sora added, shifting his sitting position. Thinking about seeing Kairi explore the world she a had lived in before she came to the Destiny Islands made Sora bubble with excitement. Soon, he would be out there having new adventures and meeting new faces. “Along with any other worlds out there! I want to see ‘em all!” he exclaimed in wonder, trying to imagine places that were unlike the islands.

Kairi turned to him with a brilliant smile on her delicate face, “So what’re we waiting for?”

“For the raft to be done,” a new voice answered. Sora and Kairi immediately turned to see their other friend: Riku. “Aren’t you guys forgetting about me? So, I guess I’m the only one working on the raft.” Under one of his strong arms, Riku was carrying a large piece of driftwood. The silver-haired teen rolled his eyes and threw the driftwood to Sora before walking up to Kairi.

“Whoa!” Sora shouted, trying to catch it.

Putting his gloved hands on his hips, Riku joked, “And you’re just as lazy as he is!” to Kairi. The red-head let out a giggle.

“So you noticed,” Kairi laughed while hiding her face. Sora noticed this and looked in a different direction. “Okay, we’ll finish it together!” she exclaimed, bouncing on the balls of her feet. Sora heard Riku let out a noise of disbelief as the older boy sat next to him. The brunette laughed at this, knowing that Riku didn’t believe Sora and Kairi could get anything done. Kairi seemed to know as well because she pouted at Riku’s actions. “Come on— I’ll race you!” she challenged the boys.

“I literally just sat down,” Riku muttered.

“Look who’s lazy now!” Sora taunted the other boy, wearing a mischevious smirk. Riku shot a fake glare at him in response.

“Ready? Go!” the girl shouted. The boys immediately sprang to their feet and started running. Despite running as fast as he could, Sora still couldn’t keep up with Riku.

_At least I’m not last,_ Sora thought to himself as Kairi usually fell behind the boys. Riku crossed under the wooden bridge first; followed by Sora and at last, Kairi.

“Looks like I win again,” Riku gloated in a confident tone, catching his breath.

“Yeah, I’ll be sure to get you next time!” Sora exclaimed, pointing a finger at the silver-haired teen.

“We should be able to finish the raft by this evening,” Kairi started to explain. “Just a few more supplies and some finishing touches and then… we’ll be off…,” she trailed off a little bit.

Nodding at Kairi’s words, Riku turned to Sora and asked, “Speaking of supplies, where’s that driftwood I gave you?” After a few seconds of thinking, Sora let out a long groan.

“I left it all the way over there,” he complained, gesturing to the place they had just run from.

“Then go get it, you lazy bum!” Kairi sang, giving Sora a light nudge and a grin. Sora returned the expression and ran back to get the driftwood.


	2. A Reason to Leave

There was one thing Riku knew he would miss from the islands: the sunset on the ocean. The way the warm colors bounced off the waters edge and painted the evening sky was always breath-taking. Maybe there would be a sunset that looked the same out there— in the outside world.

For a while now, worlds beyond the island's ocean intrigued Riku. Somewhere out there was some kind of answer he had to know. _Why this world? Why this prison surrounded by water?_ he asked himself. Riku leaned back agaist the paopu tree, his blue-green gaze still focused on the setting sun. The raft the three – mostly him – had been working on was practically finished, and all they had left to do was gather supplies for the trip.

_Soon._

"Hey, Riku," Sora greeted as he climbed onto the curved part of the poapu tree. Kairi followed Sora's actions.

"Hey," Riku responded, giving Sora and Kairi a slight wave. A comfortable silence fell over the three; this is was what Riku loved about this friend group. There were never any awkward silences or misunderstandings. The three of them were just that close, especially Sora and Kairi. Riku frowned to himself a little bit. Kairi, the girl who he really could not deny the slight crush he had on, had taken his best friend away. In some ways, the two had left him behind, but Riku tried to be happy for them. Kairi was just too pure, and Sora wasn't as observant as Riku was to notice how their friendship had changed when Kairi came to the islands.

"So, Kairi's home is out there somewhere, right?" Sora broke the silence.

"Could be," Riku simply stated, keeping his focus on the sunset. "We'll never know by staying here," he added.

Sora bent forward and asked, "But how far could a raft take us?"

"Who knows? If we have to, we'll think of something else," he answered, running his fingers through his hair. In all honesty, however, he couldn't think of another way off the islands if the raft did not work. This worried him because if the raft didn't get them far then their only chance of seeing the outside world would be a failure. It _had_ to work.

"So," Kairi started to say in a nervous voice. She seemed to notice this as she cleared her throat right away. "Suppose you get to another world." A short laugh interrupted her statement. "What would you do there?" she inquired.

Caught off guard, Riku thought for a moment and said, "Well, I haven't really thought about it." His aquamarine eyes were focused on the ground now. "It's just... I've always wondered why we're here on this island," he admitted. "If there are any other worlds out there, why did we end up on this one? And suppose there are other worlds... then ours is just a little piece of something much greater," Riku elaborated a bit more, hoping the other two understood. "So we could have just as easily ended up somewhere else, right?"

"I don't know," the younger boy mumbled.

"Watch out, Sora!" Riku heard Kairi shout. Looking out of the corner of his eye, Riku saw that Sora was now lying down on the tree. "You almost nailed me in the face," she scolded light-heartedly. The three of them laughed.

"My bad..." Sora apologized. Riku smiled at them.

"Anyways, we don't know, and that's why we need to go out there and find out," he explained, walking forward a little bit. Riku's expression darkened a slightly. "Just sitting here won't change a thing. It's the same old stuff. So let's go."

"You've been thinking a lot lately, haven't you?" the girl asked, her voice was distant.

Turning to Kairi, Riku told her, "Thanks to you. If you hadn't come here, I probably would've never thought of any of this." From where he was, Riku could see two things: Sora looking off in another direction like he always did when he was either embarrassed or upset (and it was pretty obvious as to why), and Kairi staring at the ocean below them with a worried expression. Hoping it would cheer her up, Riku said, "Kairi, thanks."

Kairi huffed a little bit before saying, "You're welcome." Riku went back to the tree trying to figure out why she seemed so upset and why she wouldn't say anything.

"Hey, it's getting late," Sora pointed out, pulling himself into a sitting position once more. "Maybe we should head back. I wouldn't want to miss dinner," he suggested. Everyone had agreed. As Sora and Kairi got onto the bridge, Riku tried to think of a way to at least cheer Sora up. Quickly, the silver-haired teen climbed the tree to get a paopu fruit.

Once he was back on the ground, he followed the two on the bridge.

"Sora," he called before tossing the paopu to the brunette. Sora caught the star-shaped fruit in his hands. "You wanted one, didn't you?" Riku asked, gesturing to the fruit.

"A paopu fruit...?" Sora murmured as he stared at it. Riku started walking again.

"If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined," he explained as he passed Sora. It was pretty obvious that both Sora and Kairi had feelings for each other. The only problem was that neither of them were willing to admit it, so Riku knew they needed help. "They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what," Riku reiterated to Sora. "C'mon, I know you want to try it," he laughed.

Stuttering, Sora asked, "What're you talking—" before cutting himself off as he seemed to realize what Riku was talking about. Riku laughed at Sora's reaction, remembering how much of a kid the brunette could be at times.

Once Riku reached the dock, he got into his boat and began to row back to the mainland. Soon, the three of them would be exploring new worlds, right? Letting out a sigh, the teen stopped paddling for a few seconds. That feeling of doubt still lingered as he thought about what they would do if the raft did not work. Riku's grip tightened on the oar.

_Riku,_ a quiet voice called. Snapping his head up, he looked for the source of the voice, but saw nothing. He could see where the entrance to the Secret Place was. Something felt different— almost as if that area was calling to him.

Riku shook his head and told himself, No, I'm just imagining things, and began to row back once more. 

_Dear Donald,_

_Please forgive me for leaving so suddenly, but trouble is brewing, and there's no time to lose._

_I'm not sure why, but the stars have been blinking out... one by one.  
Hate to leave you, but I have to check into this._

_As the king, I have a favor to ask you and Goofy..._

_There is someone out there with a Key—the Key to our survival. I need you and Goofy to find him and stick with him! Got it?_

_Without that key, we're doomed!  
So go to Traverse Town and find Leon..._


	3. Welcome to Northpointe

Brown eyes fluttered open as an alarm clock went off. It was five in the morning. Harmonia shifted onto her side for a moment, and then she got out of bed. As the young girl changed, she looked out of a small crack in her dark purple curtains. The sky from beyond the forest's tree was shadowy and gray. It must have been cloudy outside.

Buttoning up the lavender blouse she wore over her white T-shirt, Harmonia began walking to her bedroom door. Before leaving, the brunette grabbed her flute case and put it over her shoulder. A sigh left her parted lips. Stepping out of the room, Harmonia could smell someone making breakfast downstairs.

When she reached the first floor, she saw her brother Coda in the kitchen and was surprised to see him down there.

"Well, look who's up early for once," she teased, causing Coda to look at her. The boy laughed.

"Yeah, Dad was up late in his study, so I'm making breakfast," Coda explained before looking out a window. "It sure is cloudy out there," he murmured. Harmonia hummed in agreement and began walking to the back door. "You're still gonna watch the sunrise when it's like this?" he asked increduously.

"I always do," Harmonia pointed out, reaching for the door handle.

"Just be back for breakfast," Coda told her.

"I know," she said back.

Before Harmonia turned the handle, Coda added, "Oh— don't forget you're meeting my friends tonight!" Harmonia stopped her actions. Her lips were tight and her expression was dark. Harmonia's grip on the handle increased. The girl took a deep breath.

"Right," she breathed, turning the handle and stepping outside. A cool breeze blew against Harmonia, pushing her long, dark brown hair off her shoulders. Tall trees stood before her.

Walking through the forest alone and in the dark was hardly unnerving for Harmonia. She knew the woods like the back of her hand. Some birds were singing in the trees. The forest was the place she and her brother would play in almost everyday when they were little; there were many places to hide, climb, and explore.

However, Harmonia's favorite spot was the clearing at the top of the cliff. Northpointe was situated on a forested cliff that overlooked a rocky shore, and the cliff pointed north-east.

Upon reaching the clearing, Harmonia sat down at the edge— her legs folded beneathe her. After a few minutes, a pale yellow light began to rise above the cold ocean. The gray clouds and sky illuminated like gold against the morning sunlight, but the area around Harmonia was still in shadow. Harmonia sighed in content as she watched the sun come up. This was her spot— nobody else came here.

Watching the sunrise never got old.

After about ten minutes, the sun was in the sky. Light glittered on the ocean, and a gentle breeze came in from the east. Harmonia always felt better after coming here, but the thought of meeting complete strangers made her sick. For fourteen years, it was only the three of them: Harmonia, Coda, and their dad. She had no friends outside of her family.

Remembering that she had to be back at home, Harmonia stood up and whispered to herself, "I'm here." She turned around and walked back into the forest. 

"So what's the plan for lessons today?" Harmonia asked as she finished her toast.

"I need more practice on the warp spell, so probably that," Coda answered, putting the strap of the violin case over his right shoulder like a backpack.

Taking Harmonia's plate, their dad (Andante) asked, "What about you, Harmonia? You've been learning spells about two years earlier than the usual mage." Harmonia watched her dad walk back to the sink.

"Oh yeah! You're at about my level now," her brother recalled.

"I'm doing okay, I guess," she replied, picking her flute off the floor.

"Give yourself some credit," Coda told her as he out a hand on her shoulder. "You learn fast," he reminded her.

Shrugging, Harmonia added, "Yeah, but that's because I have you to help me." The teen casted her gaze to the side.

"Nonsense— you'll be in the Marching Band in no time!" reassured her brother. The girl smiled at Coda's seemingly bottomless enthusiasm. With her flute strapped around her back, Harmonia began walking to the front door.

"Harmonia, it's a little early," Andante stopped her. "Just relax for a bit. Lessons aren't that far," he explained as he finished washing the plates.

Turning around, Harmonia said, "Okay," in response and sat down on the couch. Coda followed her, and he began to take out his violin.

"How 'bout a quick duet before lessons?" he suggested, tightening the bow. Harmonia smiled and started putting the silver instrument together.


	4. The Daily Things

"So what dirt do you have on Adagio?" Coda heard Harmonia ask. The two were currently following their dad to the Contemporary Pop Music District for mage lessons. Picking on the town dirtbag, Adagio, was a favorite pass time for Coda and Harmonia.

"That dip, during a band rehersal, told every trumpet to play their note a few cents sharp," Coda began to explain. "But the chord they were suppose to be playing was major, so he really should've told them to flatten it," he snickered. Harmonia giggled too.

"Serves that moldy reed right," Harmonia jeered between laughs.

Coda hummed in agreement, "What an arrogant jerk." Harmonia always seemed so cheerful around him: telling sarcastic jokes or talking about her day. However, Coda could not understand why she was so uncomfortable around other people. He could recall a time when he was shy around other kids, but to many, Coda's slight awkwardness was what drew people to him. Surely it had to be the same for Harmonia.

Having been there for Harmonia all her life, Coda swore that he would do his best to take care of his sister.

"Ni, Coda, I've told you before," Andante scolded them. Both Coda and Harmonia snapped their heads to their dad. "Being petty doesn't solve every issue," the man lectured.

"Sorry, Dad," Coda apologized, scratching the back of his head. Looking off in another direction, the sixteen-year-old tried to think of another topic to talk about.

"How are things with Octavius?" his sister inquired, causing Coda's cheeks to heat up.

Stuttering, Coda answered, "Well, he said that he and Celeste had a little argument, and I told him they'd fix things up and that I was there for him," as he stuffed his hands into the pocket of his sweater.

"Octavius's bi, right?" the girl wanted to confirm.

"Yeah, so there's still hope," he joked, still blushing. Coda looked up at the sky, noticing that the clouds still had yet to clear up. The teen turned back to Harmonia and asked, "Ni, do you think there'll be a storm?"

"If the wind starts picking up, then maybe," she responded, keeping her eyes ahead of her. Coda hummed at her answer.

"There will be a storm," their dad stated. "Mr. Rubato foresaw it. You two better be home early tonight," he said sternly.

"All right, Dad," Harmonia replied.

Finally, they arrived at the Music Center. The Music Center was located at the outskirts of the Pop District since the Orchestra District didn't have its own area for learning. A bell rang as their dad opened the steel-framed glass door.

"Right on time!" the receptionist chirped as he began putting out the clipboard. "Coda, Mrs. Vivace just finished up with her previous student. Just go ahead through those doors," he explained, pointing to the entrance of one of the practice rooms.

After writing his name on the sign in sheet, Coda said, "Okay," and stepped into the room.

"Morning, Coda. How's it going with the warp spell?" the instructor asked as she tuned her violin.

Taking out his instrument, Coda shyly answered, "I still can't get even one target to move where I want it to," and began to tune as well. Since Coda had a blue timbre, tuning was both easy and tedious as the enhanced hearing often made Coda strive for perfect intonation.

"So, I suppose that's what we'll be doing for the next hour-and-a-half," she sighed before getting up to grab the jars they used as practice targets. "From your answer, I'm guessing you can play the spell," the woman assumed.

"Oh— yes. I can play it," he said eagerly, preparing to demonstrate that he could.

Placing a jar on the floor, Mrs. Vivace told Coda, "All right, try moving the jar the bottom right corner." Quickly, the teacher cast a spell that limited the warp locations to the room. Coda took a deep breath and began to play the song.

A dark blue light shined above Coda and took the shape of a bird. So far so good, Coda thought as he concentrated on what the target location looked like. The bird flew towards the jar, and as it made contact with the jar, both disappeared; only to reappear next to Mrs. Vivace.

"Uh... whoops," Coda coughed.

"Coda, do you know why this spell is important?" she questioned him.

"Because each band needs one member to transport them from here to the performance world," he answered.

Nodding, Mrs. Vivace continued, "Right, and if you don't get this spell down, you'll be sending all your targets to one of many infinite places. You'll have no control over where they end up." Coda murmured in agreement.

"I'll keep practicing," he declared, ready to finally get the spell right.

"That's the kind of response I'd expect from you," his teacher laughed. "We're just going to keep at this until you start getting more consistent results," she elaborated.

"Right," Coda interjected, putting his violin in playing position.

"And remember," the woman started to say. "Until you get this right, anything – or anyone – you try to transport can and will be sent to a random location, so be careful when you practice at home."


	5. The Last Day on the Beach

Sora and his friends stepped back to admire the finished product. This raft was finally done; everything was secure. All they needed to do now was prepare for the journey. The spiky-haired teen could not wait to see what was beyond their ocean. By tomorrow, the three of them would be on their way.

"Hey, Sora," Riku called for his attention. He hummed in response. "Our raft still needs a name," the silver-haired youth pointed out.

Sora's fist lightly fell against his palm as he gasped, "Oh yeah!" There was a bright smile on his face as he came up with the perfect name for the raft.

"How about Highwind?" Riku suggested, turning to walk to the cove's exit.

"I like it," Kairi chimed in, looking up from the charm she was making. Sora glanced off to the side when Kairi spoke, and the grin that had been on his face was replaced with a slight pout. Kairi then asked, "What would you call it, Sora?" which startled the brunette for a moment.

Turning his head to Kairi, he teased, "I won't say it yet." Kairi rolled her eyes and laughed.

"You two might want to catch up," Riku called to them. The fifteen-year-old was already at the bridge leading to the exit. As Sora and Kairi made their way over, Riku pulled Sora to the side and started to ask, "Hey, how 'bout—"

"The usual?" Sora finished his question, already knowing what Riku was going to say.

"Let's do it!" Riku cheered, making his way to the starting point. Determined to beat Riku this time, Sora followed and got ready to run.

"You guys at it again?" Kairi joked, rolling her pale blue eyes. "All right, I'll be the judge."

The track was pretty straightforward: cross the bridge, or the beach if one was to fall, then up a tower and down a zipline, and then it was a fairly straight run to the star-shaped tree on the other side. All they had to do was tag that tree and make it back to the exit. Sora planned out the route he would be taking.

"If I win, I'm captain," Sora declared, already imagining himself as the trio's leader. "And if you win..." There was a short pause as Sora tried to think of Riku's prize.

"I get to share the paopu with Kairi." Riku's statement caught Sora off guard.

"Huh?" he asked, his face already heating up.

"Deal? The winner gets to share a paopu with Kairi," he clarified, turning to look at Sora. Sora could see a smirk growing on his friend's face.

"Wha... wait a minute!" Sora cried, trying to get Riku to change the prize. _Now I_ really _have to beat him,_ he thought. He couldn't let Riku share a paopu with Kairi.

"Okay. On my count!" the girl announced as she brought her arm up. "Three, two, one, go!" As her arm came down, the boys took off.

Sora jumped onto the bridge and was careful to avoid stepping on that loose board that was there. He was just barely ahead of Riku, and his only chance of keeping it that way for the rest of the race was the zipline. With a sudden burst of speed, Sora ran to the ladder of the tower with the zipline, and Riku – without much of a choice – took the lower path.

Grabbing onto the handle, Sora swung down to the base of the small ledge the tree was on. He was far ahead of Riku at this point, but he knew that the silver-haired teen would catch up. Without another moment wasted, Sora sprinted up the ramp and tagged the tree. Now all that was left was to jump across the tree tops and make his way back to Kairi. Bouncing from on tree to another wasn't Sora's best feat, and because of this, Riku started catching up too.

After stumbling on the tree tops, Sora and Riku were back on the platforms, running to get to Kairi. Sora was just behind Riku. _If I just make this jump, I'll be in the lead,_ Sora thought eagerly. As his shoe hit the wooden platform, a board gave way beneath him. A yelp left his mouth as he grabbed the edge of the bridge he was suppose to land on.

"Hold on, Sora!" the boy heard Kairi yell. Riku had turned to help him too, and in a matter of seconds, Sora was back on the bridge.

"That was close," Sora nervously laughed. Remembering that they had raced to share a paopu with Kairi, Sora turned to Riku and asked, "You won... are you gonna...?"

"Man, lighten up," Riku muttered, confusing Sora. "It's just a name, after all," he explained. Sometimes, Sora just could not stand Riku because he was so condescending to him. "Highwind it is," Riku's voice shook Sora from his thoughts.

"Darn, I was kind of hoping we could do my name," the boy whined, pouting a little bit.

"What were you even gonna call it?" Kairi asked, tilting her head cutely to the side.

There was a short pause as Kairi and Riku waited for Sora's answer. Very briefly, Sora answered, "Fred." The three of them burst into laughter.

"You're too much!" Kairi said between giggles. After a few seconds, they composed themselves. "Anyways, we need to collect some provisions for the trip," Kairi told them. "Riku, you can get a seagull egg and fill this up with drinking water," she explained as she handed a large bottle to the silver-haired teen. "Sora, you can get three mushrooms, three fish, and two coconuts."

"Right," Sora confirmed. The boys exited the cove. "Hey, were you really gonna share a paopu with Kairi?" he wanted to clarify since Riku had won.

"What's that?" the other teen asked.

"Did you really mean what you said about Kairi?" Sora reiterated.

"Oh, the paopu thing? It was just a joke," Riku explained. "You should've seen your face," he teased, causing Sora to grimace. 

After about an hour of scavenging for young coconuts, some fish, and two of the three mushrooms, Sora found himself in the Secret Place. Numerous drawings of different places the three of them had imagined were scraped into walls. Sunlight filtered into the cave from a hole in the ceiling. And then there was that strange wooden door without a knob to open it. Sora recalled the day when he and Riku first discovered the Secret Place. It was about nine years ago when they charged in, ready to fight a monster that turned out to just be the wind blowing in.

Next to the door was a small drawing Sora and Kairi had drawn together. It depicted the two of them. Kairi had drawn Sora's face, and Sora did Kairi's portrait; Kairi's was significantly better than the one Sora worked on. Even at a young age, the girl had plenty artistic talent. The last mushroom was by the corner of the drawing.

A warm smile formed on Sora's lips as he stared at the drawing. Placing a hand on the side he worked on, the boy thought back to the day it was drawn. Kairi had laughed at Sora's doodle of her. He remebered being mad at first, but eventually, he gave in and joined in the laughter.

_If two people share one, their destinies become intertwined. They'll remain a part of each other's lives no matter what,_ Riku's words echoed in Sora's thoughts. Riku was right about Sora wanting to share the paopu with somebody, but Sora could not bring himself to do it. Kairi was something special— she was so pure and radiant. _Would she share one with me?_

Sora picked up a stone and began adding something else to the drawing. From Kairi's part of the picture, he drew a hand holding a paopu fruit to the girl. _One day,_ Sora thought to himself as he finished the fruit.

Suddenly, Sora heard footsteps behind him. Getting up from his spot, Sora turned and stuttered out, "Wh-Who's there?"

"I've come to see the door to this world," a voice responded, seemingly from nowhere.

"Huh?" There was a perplexed look on Sora's face. He could not tell where the voice was coming from.

The man ignored Sora and continued to speak, "This world has been connected." His voice was void of any emotion.

Still confused Sora asked, "Wh-what are you talking about?"

"Tied to the darkness... soon to be completely eclipsed," the man murmured. He almost sounded happy about this.

"Well, whoever you are, stop freaking me out like this," the fourteen-year-old told the voice. "Huh?" Sora let out as he noticed a man in a brown, hooded, robe in the shadows. He was scared now. "Wh-where did you come from?" he questioned.

"You do not yet know what lies beyond the door," the mysterious figure spoke in a low, menacing, tone.

Realizing that this man was not from the islands, Sora exclaimed, "So, you're from another world!" now eager to hear what he had to say.

"There is so very much to learn," he told Sora. "You understand so little." Disappointed with his words, the boy frowned at this statement.

"Oh yeah? Well, you see," he asserted. "I'm gonna get out and learn what's out there!" he declared, determined to prove this man wrong.

"A meaningless effort," the figure simply responded, sounding mildly amused. "One who knows nothing can understand nothing." Sora gritted his teeth. This guy was starting to annoy him, but what he said had some truth. Sora turned to that strange door and wondered what was on the other side. When he turned to face the figure, ready to ask him more questions, he found that the man had disappeared.

"How did...?" he trailed off. A huff left his parted lips. "I'll show him. The three of us are gonna see what's out there, and we'll know everything by then!" Taking one last look at the door and the drawing of him and Kairi, Sora turned and walked back to the entrance.


	6. The Last Sunset

It was getting late by the time Sora had returned to Kairi with the rest of the provisions. Riku had already given his share to her. When Kairi saw Sora enter the cove, she waved at him. Sora ran to her immediately.

"I got everything you asked for," Sora told her, showing her the items he collected.

Giving her friend a bright smile, Kairi said, "Great, just put it in the storage compartment." The boy nodded and began placing the food in the container. As Kairi watched, she realized how real the idea of leaving the islands was becoming. This place had been the only home she ever knew since all memories of before the islands were gone.

Thinking about returning to her actual home and not recognizing it terrified her. She had hoped that if she did return one day that everything would just fall into place— that her homeworld would feel like home to her, but what if she didn't feel that rush of nostalgia? What if something happened on their journey, and they can't come back to the islands? Where would her home be then? With a deep sigh, Kairi leaned against the mast of the raft and took out the charm she had been working on for the past few days. The charm was made out of pastel pink, yellow, and blue thalassa shells, and there was a small, golden crown in the center. It was made to look like a paopu fruit. A braided, minty-green yarn was tied to the shell at the top. Only one more thalassa shell, and the charm would be complete.

"Hey, what's that you've got there?" Sora's question interrupted Kairi's thoughts.

"This?" she asked, holding out the charm and pushing down her thoughts. "I'm making a necklace of thalassa shells," Kairi explained, keeping her pale blue orbs on the charm.

"What's it for?" Sora further questioned, curious to know what it was.

Kairi let out a light giggle before answering, "In the old days, sailors always wore thalassa shells. They were suppose to ensure a safe voyage." She then let the charm dangle from the yarn it was tied to. "See this? It's a charm to help us find each other if we ever get separated. The three of us will always be together," she said warmly, with a cute smiled forming on her lips.

"You're worried about being separated?" the brunette inquired, his bright blue orbs full of worry. Kairi brought her gaze to Sora.

"I mean... it's not like we know what's going to happen out there," the red-head whispered solemnly.

"But that's the fun of having an adventure!" Sora cheered. "It's just like watching a movie for the first time, right? And whatever's bothering ya, I promise I'll make it go away," the boy grinned. As Kairi stared at her friend in awe, she could feel her cheeks burn.

"Thanks, Sora," she smiled back. Noticing that the sky was now orange, Kairi suggested, "How about we start heading back?"

"Sounds good," he replied, flashing a quick thumbs up at her. As they made their way out of the cove, Kairi glanced over to the horizon. The sun was setting, and the ocean glittered under its light.

Realizing that this might be the last sunset they would see on the islands for a while, Kairi grabbed Sora's hand and chirped, "C'mon! Let's watch the sunset for a little bit." She pulled him to the dock where their boats were. Their shoes knocked against the wooden surface.

Kairi took a seat at the edge of the dock, and Sora followed her. Watching the sunset always made Kairi feel a little better, and knowing that the three wouldn't be able to see this view for a while meant that Kairi had to make the most of this moment. She knew this was not her last sunset on the islands because she knew they would come back soon enough. _Right?_

"You know, Riku has changed," Kairi thought out loud, recalling how the fifteen-year-old preferred spending time with Sora to hanging out with her. It took time for Riku to let Kairi into the friend group, but now she could tell that she was the source for the boys' competitve natures. The red-head felt bad for creating that kind of conflict; she wanted to tell Sora so badly, but that also meant hurting Riku.

"What do you mean?" Sora inquired.

"Well..." the red-head trailed off, unsure of what to say. Something else had changed earlier that day as well. It was something that Kairi couldn’t quite describe about Riku. He just seemed to have a different vibe now, and there was something ominous about it.

Concerned for his friend, Sora asked, "You okay?" Kairi pursed her lips as she thought of a response. She wanted to tell him, but at the same time, she couldn't. Not when it still meant that someone would end up getting hurt in the end.

"Sora, let's take the raft and go— just the two of us!" she chimed.

Sora's face turned bright red. "Huh?"

"Just kidding," the girl giggled, hoping he wouldn't see through her.

"What's gotten into you?" Sora questioned, bringing his gaze to look at her. "You're the one that's changed, Kairi," he pointed out. There was a brief pause between the two of them.

"Maybe..." she sighed, folding her hands in her lap. "You know, I was a little afraid at first," Kairi began to tell Sora. "But now I'm ready," she grinned, think back to what Sora told her. Bringing her pale blue eyes to the water, she continued, "No matter where I go or what I see, I know I can always come back here." She paused for a moment. "Right?" she asked, turning her head to Sora.

"Yeah, of course!" Sora cheered, flashing Kairi a bright grin.

Turning back to the setting sun, Kairi whispered, "That's good." Sora always made her smile, and she was glad that they would always be together. "Sora, don't ever change," she cooed sweetly.

As she got up from her sitting position, Kairi heard the spiky-haired boy let out a noise of confusion: "Huh?"

"I just can't wait," Kairi started, a warm smile forming on her lips. Thinking of the three of them – both she and Sora together – exploring new worlds filled her with fear and excitement. "Once we set sail, it'll be great." Sora hummed in agreement. As the two focused on the sunset once more, Kairi wondered what the sunset looked like in other worlds. _Would it look different? Or do all the worlds share the same sky?_


	7. Strangers' Eyes

Taking in a deep breath, Harmonia looked into the bathroom mirror and began reciting, "Hi, I'm Harmonia— Coda's broth– SISTER!" Her face turned a bright red as she corrected herself. Harmonia's lips formed a slight pout as she ran her fingers through her hair. "Tonight's gonna be a disaster," she mumbled hopelessly.

"Harmonia, we gotta go!" Coda called as he knocked in the wooden door.

"Just a few more seconds," Harmonia said back. Looking back into the mirror, the girl whispered to her reflection, "Into the unknown." With that, the girl turned to the door and opened it.

"What were you doing in there?" he asked while laughing.

Hanging her head a little lower, she answered a bit shamefully, "Rehearsing." Coda laughed more at her response.

"Oh come on, Ni," he said between giggles. Harmonia flinched as her brother threw an arm around her. "You don't need to do that. Just act natural," he explained.

"Alright," Harmonia sighed, her brown gaze fixated on the hard wood floor.

Taking something out of his pocket, Coda reminded her, "Don't forget this." A small, purple neiro flower charm rested in his palm. Remembering the day Coda had given it to her made her smile.

"Thanks," she chirped, taking the charm and putting it in the pocket of her flute case. As Coda walked descended down the stairs, Harmonia slowly followed behind. Tonight would be the first time she would hang out in a friend group. Trying to ignore the knot in her stomach, she sped up a little bit.

"You two are heading out already?" the girl heard her dad ask.

"Yeah, but we should be home before the storm starts," Coda reassured the man. Turning to Harmonia, the boy called, "C'mon, Ni. We have to go before it gets too late!"

"Coming!" she chimed, running to catch up her brother. When Harmonia stepped outside, she could see the sun setting on Northpointe's ocean. A strong wind blew Harmonia's hair into her face. The Orchestra District was the highest district on the cliff. Harmonia never looked at the sunset like this before, and she began to wonder what else she had missed. Besides walking through the woods, going to lessons, and occasionally visiting either the Electronic District or arcade, she rarely stayed outside the house.

"Nervous?" Coda teased, nudging her gently with his elbow. There was a mischevious grin on his face.

"You're just catching on now?" Harmonia joked back, narrowing her eyes a little bit. Coda laughed, making Harmonia giggle too. She stopped after a few seconds and asked, "Do you think I'll be okay?" The curly-haired boy huffed at her question.

"I _know_ you'll be fine," he reassured her. Coda started again, "Now, let's head for the Dead Tree," looking off into the direction of the park.

"That tree that never sprouts any flowers?" she questioned incredulously. A huff escaped her parted lips. "You can't get any edgier than that," she laughed, giving her brother a light nudge.

"Look who's talking," Coda lightly retorted.

The walk to the Dead Tree was tense for Harmonia; even Coda couldn't seem to keep her spirits up for long. It was cold too. While Coda wore his usual gray and cerulean sweater, Harmonia chose to wear the blouse her brother had gotten as to look decent for his friends. It was a thin garment with short, lacey sleeves and a "coat tail" trailing behind her. With the wind blowing rather strongly, the icy cool of the ocean easily washed over Northpointe.

After walking about five minutes, Harmonia noticed four people gathered around the Dead Tree. There were two girls who appeared to be twins, and they were wearing similar vests that were opposite to the other. Their wavy, blonde hair fell just below their jawline, and their dark blue eyes looked rather dull. Harmonia immediately recognized one of the boys: Octavius. Octavius was a few inches taller than Coda, with a strong, squared off jaw and messy black hair. His skin was tanned, making his gray eyes glow against his face. The other boy was just about Coda's height. He wore a black bandana around his neck. The boy's hair was colored auburn, and, like Octavius, his green eyes shone against his darker complexion.

"Hey, guys!" Coda called, waving to the group.

"Did you bring your sister?" one of the twins asked as Harmonia and Coda approached.

Gesturing to Harmonia, Coda responded, "You're looking at her."

"I'm Harmonia," she said, giving the group a sheepish wave. "You can call me Ni for short though," Harmonia explained, hoping that they would actually use her nickname.

"So you're the Northpointe Prodigy Child," the other twin mentioned, causing Harmonia to stop her actions. Quickly, Harmonia pulled on the hood of Coda's sweater.

"Prodigy Child— is that what people have been calling me?" she hissed under her breath.

"Yeah, your teacher talks a lot about you, but a lot of people don't know your name so they just call you Prodigy Child," Coda explained. "Isn't that a good thing?" he asked, making sure she was fine.

Casting her brown gaze to the side, Harmonia told him, "It's just... What if I'm not what they expected?" The girl flinched as her brother ruffled her hair.

"They know what to expect," he soothed her. Once they were at the tree, Coda began introducing the people there. "These are the twins: Siciliana and Giga. Siciliana is the one in the white vest with black stripes, and Giga is the one wearing black with white stripes."

"It's nice to meet you," Giga greeted Harmonia, reaching a hand out to the flautist. Harmonia took it and shook hands without a word.

Coda continued, "You already kinda know Octavius, so I'll just skip to Apollo." The curly-haired teen gestured to the boy with theblack bandana around his neck. "Apollo is part of the Military Drumline; he plays tenor drums."

"'Sup," Apollo smirked, making Harmonia grimace a little bit. Still, the brunette decided to sit between the twins and Apollo since she knew that wherever she sat she would feel uncomfortable.

"So, how was everyone's week?" Siciliana chirped, leaning forward a little bit.

Octavius stood up. "Watch this," he said before a green mist surrounded him. The clothes he had on – which consisted of a sea-green coat over a white T-shirt and a pair of blue skinny jeans – turned into a dark-green vest with long sleeves and fur lining that matched his hair. A gold amulet, resembling a paw print, hung around his neck on a chain.

"FURRY!" Apollo shouted at Octavius, making Harmonia flinch.

"I finally unlock my Unbound Form, and the first thing you have to say about that is that I'm a furry," Octavius chided, crossing his arms. "You know we don't have control over our timbres."

"Aw, don't feel bad," Coda said sweetly. "I can't even warp a jar from one side of the room to another yet." Octavius smiled back at him, visibly thankful that someone was impressed.

As the cellist reverted back to his original form, Siciliana turned to Harmonia and asked, "So what timbre do you have?" Harmonia frowned a little bit.

"Purple— one of the useless ones," she muttered, embarrassed to be telling them. A cold wind blew in their direction, making Harmonia cover her arms with her hands. However, inside she felt as if she was burning.

"Oh," was all the blonde twin said. There was a heavy silence over the four of them; Harmonia could see that Coda and Octavius were caught up in a conversation of their own, and they were completely oblivious to what was happening around Harmonia. A tight, unpleasant knot made itself present in her stomach.

"So, how come hardly anyone has ever seen you?" Giga inquired, leaning forward to look at Harmonia.

"I'm shy," the girl simply answered.

Apollo burst into laughter, "Ain't that the truth!" As he wiped a tear from his eyes, he proceeded to ask her, "But seriously— is that all?"

"I guess..." Harmonia murmured. "After lessons, I just go straight home and practice," she explained, hoping they would stop asking her more questions.

"No wonder your teacher always talks about how fast you learn!" Siciliana realized, her dark blue eyes widening a little bit.

"But, I've seen you walking into the forest almost every morning," the other twin mentioned. "What do you do in there?" Harmonia tensed even more, and she began pressing her nails against her skin.

"I... watch... the sunrise," she spoke with long intervals of silence between her words. Panic began to settle in as Harmonia started to realize weird she must have appeared in their eyes.

"What do you do that for?" the percussionist questioned. "I mean, doesn't that mean you gotta get up early? Like, _really_ early?" he pushed the subject.

"I don't sleep too well anyways..." she told them, lowering her head.

"Still, why did you start watching it?"

"What does it look like from the top?"

"Y'know, Coda said you wanna join the Band. Think they'll let you in with a purple timbre?"

Harmonia struggled to keep up with their questions. She always knew what to say when Coda was around, but Coda wasn't there at the moment. Their words came fast— faster than Harmonia could respond. However, even she did not know herself well enough to give a good answer.

"Why not join the Orchestra? They have a small flute section."

"What made you choose flute? Percussion might give you a better chance of getting in with your timbre."

Another strong wind blew in their direction, and the brunette hugged herself tighter. She hardly got a chance to answer one question before another one was asked. Their eyes seemed to burn right through her like bright lights slicing through darkness. Harmonia was burning, and yet she felt cold. She hardly knew who these people were. As she tried to respond to each question, her voice was drowned out by the other three, and it felt as if their stares grew more intense. The atmosphere was suffocating.

"I... um... I..." she stuttered breathlessly. Siciliana put a hand on her shoulder.

"How does it feel to have one of the useless timbres?"

Shutting her eyes tight, Harmonia got up and began walking briskly away. Her pace, as she got even further, grew faster and faster until she was running at top speed. The tears that had formed in her brown eyes blurred her vision as she escaped. Harmonia could still feel the three's piercing gaze from far away.

"Hey, what happened?" Coda asked when he saw Harmonia run off.

Shrugging, Apollo answered, "I dunno, man. We were just asking a few questions." The percussionist looked back into the direction where Harmonia had went.

"Maybe I shouldn't have asked her about her timbre," Siciliana sighed, guilty about driving the girl off. Coda frowned as he tried to understand what scared Harmonia.

"I should go talk to her," he resolved, getting up from his sitting position. Octavius stood up too and put a hand on the violinist's shoulder.

"Harmonia was just asked a barrage of questions," he explained to Coda. "She might need some space," Octavius further advised.

"Yeah, I think Octavius is right," Giga chimed in. "Maybe we all just got too excited."

As a deep sigh left his lips, Coda breathed, "All right then. She probably went home anyways." Sitting back down, Coda continued to talk with his friends.


	8. Just Before Darkness

As a strong wind blew, Riku heard the entire house creak. Realizing how powerful the gale was, he quickly ran outside to the boats. If this wind continued, then the raft they (mostly him) worked so hard on would be blown away. It was nearly night fall, and large waves pushed against Riku's boat.

Once he reached the dock, Riku began sprinting to the cove where the raft was tied up. Another strong wind blew, forcing him to come to a stop.

"Damn!" he grunted as small grains of sand blew into his face. "It wasn't _this_ windy earlier."

Riku finally reached the entrance to the cove. A sigh of relief left his lips as he made it to the temporary shelter from the wind. From the entrance, the silver haired teen could see that the raft had not been blown away yet. Riku began making his way down to the shore of the cove, ready to inspect the raft for any damages.

"That's a relief," he breathed softly once he was sure the raft was fine. Standing up, Riku went to make sure it was tied down properly. The boy lowered himself to check the rope he had used to secure the raft.

"So, your precious raft has survived through the wind," a deep, ominous voice seemed to tease.

Getting up and turning around abruptly, Riku saw a figure dressed in a dark-brown cloak. A large X was emblazoned across his chest; his face was hidden beneath his hood.

"Who are you?" Riku demanded, clenching his fists.

"You may call me an ally," he answered, walking over to the raft.

Riku huffed in annoyance, "Yeah, sure you are." His blue-green gaze watched as the man make his way to the raft.

"Tell me... how far do you think this will take you?" the figure asked.

"Far enough," the boy retorted, going back to tying down the Highwind.

A sinister chuckle echoed from the man. "And how big do you think this ocean is?" Riku stopped his actions, and his expression darkened. The man began laughing again. "Not another world in sight for miles upon miles. Do you really think _this_," he gestured to the raft. "Can take you away from this prison surrounded by water?"

"How did you...?" Riku started to ask, turning back to the figure. He was listening now.

"I know of many things, and I'm here to help you," he spoke in a teasingly confident voice. Riku thought for a moment. The figure was right: what if the raft failed? Something still felt off about this guy however.

"Give me one reason why I should trust you," Riku demanded, standing to better face the man. His request was answered with a moment of silence, except for the strong wind that blew against them.

At last, the man spoke again, "Because I know the _real_ reason why you want to escape." A dark chuckle rumbled in his throat. "You want to keep that promise you made to her. You want to become stronger. You want to see the world he promised you," he revealed. "However, if your precious raft were to fail, how will you ever accomplish those feats?" he asked. Riku had no response. He was shocked at how much this mysterious figure knew about him.

"What should I do?" Riku inquired, ready to do what it takes to get off the islands.

"Come with me." The man moved to the cove's exit; Riku followed at a safe distance. As they walked across the beach, the silver-haired teen could not help but notice the large drop in temperature. These islands were in a tropical region, so cold weather was extemely rare, even in winter.

The sky was a deep violet color now, showing that the sun was nearly gone. Harsh winds blew grains of sand into the air, and large waves crashed onto the shore. Coming to a stop, the robed man pointed to the Secret Place.

"In there, you will find a door. Open it," the man commanded. Riku rolled his eyes.

"You're kidding," he muttered. "That door is sealed tight. It doesn't even have a handle," Riku pointed out, crossing his arms.

"That door won't open by any conventional ways," the figure started to explain. "In order to undo the seal, you must open your heart to darkness."

Confused by his statement, Riku asked, "What do you mean?"

"Only the darkness can give you what you're looking for," he clarified, his voice growing louder. "It will grant you strength beyond your imagination, but most importantly, a gateway to the outside world. Is that not what you want?" the man tempted the teen. A bolt of lightning flashed in the clouds, and the winds began increasing in speed. Surely, the raft would never survive this weather. While he hardly trusted the robed figure, Riku knew this was their best chance off the islands.

"Just a little bit of darkness," he resolved, waiting for something to happen.

Laughing maniacally, the man spoke above the wind, "Yes— yes! It's about time you get off this rock, isn't it?" Black smoke surrounded his form as he raised his arms to the violet sky. Thunder boomed in the background.

Without warning, the earth shook violently causing Riku to fall to his knees. That dark aura began to surround his form as well; it felt invigorating. A loud crack sounded above them, and the sky tore open a portal.

_Riku,_ it seemed to call. The boy stood up and stared in awe at the portal that loomed above the paopu tree.

As a twisted smile formed on his lips, Riku spoke quietly to himself, "The door is open."


	9. The Storm (Part One)

When the rain started coming down, Coda and his friends began hurrying back to his house to check on Harmonia— except for Apollo, who had to join the rest of Drumline to setup the barrier for the storm. Time had gotten away from the sixteen-year-old, and he was sure his dad would be quite upset over this. The sun had set a long time ago, and the only light came from the few streetlamps in the district.

"Oh man, my dad's gonna kill me!" Coda groaned in defeat, knowing that he should have been more aware of the decreasing temperature. The boy threw his hood over his head to try to keep himself from getting too wet since it was bad enough that he was not home yet.

Octavius gave him a reassuring nudge. "Hey, these things happen," he told the violinist.

"At least Harmonia went home," Giga chimed in.

"Hope she wasn't too upset," Siciliana pouted, still feeling guilty for scaring Coda's sister.

"Is your sister the grudge type?" Giga asked, leaning forward to look at Coda.

Coda frowned as he thought back to when it was just the two of them and answered, "I don't think so."

When they arrived at Coda's place, the curly-haired boy could see that the lights were on downstairs. _Dad should've finished making dinner by now,_ Coda thought to himself as he opened the door. Waiting for his friends to make their way inside, he shuddered as a strong wind blew some rain in his direction. Giga was right about how lucky Harmonia was to have gone home early.

"Sorry I'm late, Dad," Coda sheepishly called to the man as he stepped inside. Andante was on one of the couches reading a book.

"That's fine," his dad sighed, closing the book he was reading. Turning to Coda and his friends, Andante continued, "You and Harmonia must have been having a lot of fun with your friends; I understand if you lost track of time." Coda felt his heart drop upon hearing his dad's words.

"Harmonia left early..." he whispered to his dad. Andante's almond-colored eyes darted back and forth behind his glasses as they tried to find Harmonia in Coda's group, and they widened as Andante realized that she wasn't there. "Harmonia left— I thought she came here!" Coda stuttered, panicking.

"Well, where could she have gone?" Siciliana asked. Coda stood there, trying to think of where Harmonia went.

"The cliff!" Coda exclaimed in realization.

"Are you sure she didn't go to the Electronic District?" Andante asked, getting up from the couch. 

"Ni ran in this direction," Coda explained, turning to leave the house. "We have to tell Drumline to delay putting up the barrier!" As he turned the door knob, his dad and his friends followed Coda out of the house. The rain was starting to come down harder than before, and it began to turn the dirt paths into mud. Drumline always set up the barrier from the center of the Pop District and out, meaning that they had to run a long distance to get there.

After a while, the muddied paths turned to asphalt signaling that the group had made it to the next district. Lightning flashed in the dark clouds as the group made their way to the center. Coda immediately saw Apollo standing to the side of the other percussionists.

"Apollo!" the boy called above the clamor. Apollo turned to face the group and immediately realized something was wrong.

"You guys look pale," Apollo pointed out when Coda and the others reached him. "What's goin' on?"

"Harmonia's on the cliff," Siciliana explained, causing Apollo's expression to grow dark.

Octavius stepped forward and told the percussionist, "We need you to tell the others to wait until Coda gets back with Harmonia." Apollo looked distressed when he heard this.

"You're crazy, man!" he exclaimed. "I care about Harmonia too, but how am I 'spose to convince the rest of 'em?"

"Please, Apollo," Coda pleaded, grabbing the other boy's hand. "It'll be quick." Apollo's gaze looked back to the rest of Drumline and made its way back to Coda.

"Fine, but I can only get ya a max of ten minutes— no promises," he resolved, pulling his hand out of Coda's grasp and walking back to the others. "If you're not back after ten minutes, we gotta put up the barrier."

"Yeah, yeah— got it," Coda turned to run back into the direction of the forest.

"Coda," he heard his dad call. Coda came to a halt and looked back at the man. "Keep yourselves safe up there."

"Right." With that, Coda began running back to the forest. Mud splashed beneath his feet as he made it back into the Orchestra District in record time. The rain fell even harder now, meaning the storm would be getting even worse in the near future. Coda pushed that thought aside and entered the forest.


	10. The Storm (Part Two)

Laying in bed in his dimly lit room, Sora thought about what Kairi had said earlier. He couldn't understand why she was acting so strange before, especially since whenever the two were alone, Kairi always talked about how fond she was of the islands. To Sora, her excitement for leaving was a little unexpected. Then again, she might just have been excited to return to her home world. As the brunette's gaze wandered about his room, he realized how messy it had gotten. Some old clothes and a few books (that he never got to reading) were scattered on the floor.

"I should clean that up before tomorrow," he mumbled to himself, not looking forward to making his bedroom tidy all night. Sora rolled his head in the opposite direction as an attempt to ignore the mess on the floor, and he found himself looking out the window.

A dark mass of clouds immediately caught his attention, and the boy jolted up. Lightning flashed within those clouds, and loud boom seemed to shake the islands.

"A storm?" he whispered under his breath. His sky blue orbs widened as he suddenly realized something: "Oh, no, the raft!" Jumping out of bed, Sora ran for his bedroom door then realized it was almost dinner time. "Ah, I can't let my parents see me," he grunted.

Sora stood in the middle of his messy room looking for a way out without his parents noticing. The only other reasonable way of leaving was the window above his bed.

"YEET!" he yelled as he rammed into the window. Somehow, by some other-worldly wonder, he landed on the ground without a scratch, even though it was littered with broken glass from his window. Ignoring the miracle that was his unscathed skin, Sora sprinted at full speed to the boats.

As he drew closer to the other island, Sora saw a large, ominous hole in the night sky. It loomed above the platform where the paopu tree was.

"What's that?" he asked in wonder, his light blue gaze fixated on the opening. When he landed on the dock, Sora noticed two other boats. "Riku's boat. And Kairi's!" he realized soon after landing. Sora turned, ready to look for his friends, but he was stopped by strange shadowy figures with sharp claws, antennae, and glowing, yellow eyes. They appeared from the ground.

Taking out the wooden toy sword, he charged the shadows. One of them crept forward for an attack, and the boy swung the blade at it. The sword, however, harmlessly phased through its body, and it continued to advance towards Sora.

"What _are_ these things?" Sora cried out as he ran away from them. More of the shadows began to spawn out of the ground. Even though he knew the sword went right through them, Sora continued to swing at their bodies. Out of the corner of his eye, he noticed Riku standing by the paopu tree. _Great! Riku always knows what to do, and maybe Kairi's with him,_ he thought to himself. Running into the shack that led onto the bridge to the tree, Sora slammed the door behind him, and he began to make his way up the stair case.

Sora could hear scratching and pounding from outside. As he quickly climbed up the stairs, he hoped that all of this was just a bad dream. Whatever those things were, they were hostile and the fourteen-year-old could not do anything to ward them off. At last, the boy made it out of the shack and he raced across the bridge to get to his friend. Looking behind himself to see where the shadows were, Sora saw that they had managed to climb onto the bridge. Sora ran even faster now, desperate to escape the monsters.

Once he made it to the platform, he shouted above the wind, "Where's Kairi? I thought she was with you!" when he noticed the girl wasn't with him. Riku didn't seem to hear his question, or at the very least, he ignored it.

"The door has opened..." Riku spoke in a trance-like state with his back facing Sora.

"What?" Sora asked, unsure of what Riku was talking about.

The silver-haired teen turned around slowly, and Sora froze at the wicked grin he saw on his friend's face. "The door has opened, Sora! Now we can go to the outside world!" he marvelled at the dark portal.

"What are you talking about?" Sora questioned him, confused as to how Riku was so calm over this. "We've gotta find Kairi!" he pointed out.

"Kairi's coming with us!" the boy snapped, causing Sora to flinch at his tone. Bringing his gaze up to the hole, Riku continued, "Once we step through, we might not be able to come back. We may never see our parents again. There's no turning back." Riku's gloved hand clenched into a fist. "But this may be our only chance. We can't let fear stop us! I'm not afraid of the darkness!" he declared, bringing his gaze back to Sora. As Sora listened to Riku, the brunette could not help but feel uneasy by Riku's remarks. Something about all this just didn't seem right. Staring down upon them was the portal. It was surrounded by sinister clouds and within it, a strange energy seemed to swirl inside.

"Riku..." the boy called softly, hoping to coax his friend from going through with this.

Reaching a hand towards Sora, Riku beckoned, "Come with me." A black mass materialized beneath the older boy's feet and quickly began to consume his form. Still, Riku remained calm and continued to reach his hand to Sora. Sora started after Riku only to find that the dark tendrils surrounded him too. He couldn't move from where he was, and he desperately tried to grab Riku's hand. The darkness almost completely shrouded Riku now and started to surround Sora too, keeping him just barely out of reach; Sora tried to stretch his arm further. It felt unaturally cold in the shadows. Sora's vision began to go black.

Just before everything was obscured by the darkness, a bright light flashed in the boy's hand. He winced as it lit up the area. Cracking open one of his sky blue orbs, Sora saw two things: Riku had disappeared and there was a large, silver key with a golden hand guard in his hand.

_Keyblade,_ a distant whisper called. Sora tilted his head in confusion. _Where did Riku go? And what's a Keyblade?_

Out of nowhere, one of the shadow monsters lept at him. Instinctively, Sora swung the Key at the shadow, and to his surprise, the shadow dissipated into thin air. Taking this new knowledge to his advantage, Sora charged through the other shadows— each one disappearing as the Keyblade struck them. Riku was gone now, and there was nothing much Sora could do about it. However, Kairi was still here somewhere; Sora knew it was up to him to find her.


	11. Taking Flight

Running and tripping over large roots, Coda realized how long it had been since he and Harmonia had played in the forest together. More importantly, as he recalled those countless days playing games like hide-and-seek, Coda noticed that he never ventured as far into the woods as Harmonia did. It may have been a straight run to the cliff, but every surfaced root, low-hanging branch, slippery mud puddle, or thick bundle of thorns that he had not known about before slowed him down greatly now. Not to mention, the forest was dark in this kind of weather— except for the occasional flash of lightning. It was nearly impossible to see any obstacles.

The skin on Coda's face stung from falling over so many times, and he had to resort to a fast walk as to not trip again. Another bolt of lightning illuminated the area, revealing a bundle of leaves hanging from a branch. Coda easily walked around it, only to stumble over a large stone just moments later. He hoped that Harmonia was safe from the thunder, especially when the cliff was so high in the air. _Has it been ten minutes yet?_ he thought, praying that Drumline had not set up the barrier yet. Every passing second reminded Coda that he was on a time limit, and as the sixteen-year-old pushed on, he was mentally beating himself up for not running to Harmonia's side. Coda should have been there for her, and now, because of him, both of them were in danger.

At last, the foliage dwindled into a small clearing. Lightning struck again, lighting up his surroundings. Sitting at the edge of the cliff – her figure hunched over – was Harmonia. The girl's arms hugged her knees tight and close to her chest, and her face was buried between them.

"Harmonia!" Coda called above the wind. Harmonia lifted her face from her knees. Her expression changed from sorrow to shock in an instant.

"Coda?" she called in disbelief, standing up now. Coda ran and pulled his sister into a hug.

"Thank goodness you're safe," he cried. Harmonia seemed to tense up, and Coda pulled away immediately and gave an apology: "Sorry, I forgot you don't like hugs like that." Grabbing her hand, Coda turned around and began running back into the forest. "C'mon! We have to get back before Drumline sets up the barrier."

"R-right," Harmonia stuttered.

Thunder seemed to shake all of Northpointe. A large bolt of lightning had just struck in the sky. Andante's fist was clenched tight as he anxiously waited for his kids to return. There was a low murmur as a crowd of people questioned why Drumline had not done anything yet. Everyone else was growing impatient; Coda needed to move fast. Feeling a tap on his shoulder, Adante turned around to see the section leader.

"Mr. Segno, we have to set up the barrier now," she told him, making him grimace.

"There are two young instrumages still out there!" he pointed out, gesturing to the forest. "We need to wait for them to return," the man pleaded.

"And risk the lives of all these people?" she challenged him. Andante looked to the ground, trying to think of a way to give Coda more time. "We'll send a search party out tomorrow, but we need to put up the barrier. The storm's already at its worst, and we can't afford a landslide." Andante gritted his teeth as he listened to her words. She was right. If the ground got too wet, then many buildings would be destroyed, but Harmonia and Coda were all he had left after—

Coming to a resolution, Andante spoke in a low tone, "Fine, put up your barrier. I'm going to find my family." With that, a brown light engulfed his form for a quick moment. When it dissippated, Andante's face was covered by a masked hood, and armor resembling tree bark appeared on his body. Adante summoned large roots and prepared to ride them.

"Mr. Segno, aren't you going to bring an instrument?" Giga asked. "You can't cast any soundless spells."

"I'll be fine. Let me go," he demanded. Giga stepped back and Andante sped into the direction of the forest. Thanks to the roots, the man arrived at the woods in a short amount of time, but due to the forest floor, Andante could no longer use them to travel. Walking deeper and deeper into the foliage proved to be difficult with strong winds and minimal lighting.

Harmonia and Coda struggled to make their way through the trees. It was too dark to see anything, and the wind kept blowing rain in their direction. Harmonia shivered against the cold gale. Coda let out a yelp as he tripped over a root.

"Are you okay?" she asked, bending down to see if he was hurt.

As Coda sat up, he answered, "Yeah, wouldn't be the first time I fell over tonight." Harmonia was about to help her brother up when a loud blast shook the area. Covering her ears, Harmonia curled up on the floor shaking. "It was just thunder, Ni," she heard Coda comfort her.

"Yeah..." she trembled. When she looked up at her brother, the brunette saw a large bubble forming in the sky. The barrier had been set, and they were on the other side of it. "Coda, the barrier!" she exclaimed, pointing to the sky.

"Our time's up," he whispered, his blue eyes filled with worry. Harmonia's breathing grew erratic.

"Coda, I'm sorry!" she cried, shutting her brown eyes tight. "I forgot and..." She was scared now— more frightened than she had ever been. Coda risked his life for her, and now he was taking the punishment for her actions.

"Ni, calm down," she heard Coda say as the teen put a hand on her shoulder. However, Harmonia continued to mumble incoherent apologies and worries.

Bending down to her level, Coda tried to tell her, "You're gonna be fine, all right? Ni, just breathe." The girl listened to his words and tried to slow her breathing.

"I-I can't..." she strained between gasps. "I can't... breathe...!" Harmonia wrapped her arms around her numb body, trying to find a way to calm down. She blamed herself for Coda getting caught in the storm. If she had just gone home like any normal person would, they wouldn't be in this mess.

"Harmonia..." her brother said something else, but she didn't hear him.

"I didn't mean to— I wasn't..." Harmonia struggled to say. Coda grabbed both her shoulders and looked her straight in the eyes. She flinched as he did.

"Listen, Harmonia," he began to say. "I'm gonna get you out of here, okay? But, you have to trust me," Coda told her. Harmonia nodded slightly, reassured by his promise. Her breathing finally began to settle down.

"Okay," she agreed quietly. Coda smiled and took a few steps back.

Harmonia watched carefully as the boy took out his violin, and her eyes grew wide as she realized what her brother planned to do.

"No! Coda, don't do this!" she commanded him, but Coda ignored her. "You don't know where that will send me," Harmonia pointed out.

"Sorry, Harmonia," he whispered.

"Coda, stop," she told him. A dark blue light glowed and began to take the shape of a bird. "Stop," she said again. The song sounded above the wind and thunder.

Running towards Coda, Harmonia shouted, "I SAID STOP!" A hand reached out to him, but the spell flew in her direction. Harmonia let out a gasp as it hit her. The glowing, blue bird spread its wings and began lifting the girl a few feet into the air. Harmonia's arms flailed wildly as she tried to find something to hold onto.

Taking hold of her hands, Coda spoke to her, "Don't worry. I'll find you." He wore a melancholy expression on his face. Tears threatened to spill from Harmonia's brown orbs as he let go of her hands. Coda, and the rest of Northpointe, disappeared as a blue light shrouded Harmonia's vision.


	12. A Looming Shadow

After running and slashing through a endless swarm of shadows, Sora burst through a door that had appeared at the entrance of the Secret Place. As the brunette stepped inside, he slammed the door so the monsters would not get in. The Secret Place was the last area he hadn't checked. Kairi _had_ to be here.

"Kairi, are you there?" he called, his voice echoing through the tunnel.

After a few seconds, her voice responded, "Sora?" Encouraged by Kairi's response, Sora ran to the end of the tunnel. When he reached the end, the boy saw his friend waiting there. She stood in front of that strange door with her back faced towards Sora.

"Kairi!" he exclaimed in relief.

Turning around slowly, Kairi murmured, "Sora..." The boy flinched at her pale complexion. Kairi's normally bright, blue eyes were dull, and she had a weak expression on her face. Her red strands of hair were a mess. Sora watched as the girl reached out to him, and it was as if she barely had the strength to raise her arm. Something was very wrong.

Without warning, the door flung open, and a strong current burst out of it. Kairi let out a scream as she was caught in the blast. Sora immediately spread out his arms to catch her as she came flying towards him. As Kairi drew closer, Sora tried to wrap his arms around the girl, ready to protect her. However, as Sora tried to catch her, Kairi disappeared into thin air. The boy looked down at the floor to make sure that he didn't imagine her vanishing.

"What?" he grunted incredulously. Kairi was just there in front of him. Where could she have gone? Sora moved to a wall and held on as tight as he could. "Kairi!" he called, waiting for a response. "Kairi! Riku!" The gale began to grow stronger and stronger; Sora was finding it difficult to hold onto the wall. With a sudden burst of strength, the wind sent the boy flying out of the cave.

Sora landed face-first into the sand. Lifting himself off the ground, his eyes widened as he noticed that a large portion of the island was missing. There was no more water or land— it was like the islands had become a cliff, and Sora was just a few inches short of falling off of it. Startled by the drop, the fourteen-year-old jumped back.

The strange portal that Riku had disappeared into seemed to be breaking apart. Whatever was left of the islands shook violently, and Sora struggled to stand on his feet. A loud thud sounded from behind him; Sora turned around to be met with a very familiar and grotesque face.

"You..." he growled, clenching his fist. It was the monster that had appeared in his dream the day before. The Darkside let out a roar as it slammed its fist into the ground. A void appeared where the hand landed, and Shadows appeared from out of the ground.

Sora immediately leapt above the swarm, landing on the Darkside's arm soon after. Running up the apendage, the boy prepared to strike its face with his Keyblade. As the Key slammed into the mess of tendrils, a loud, pained screech shook the terrain as it stumbled back from the blow. Trying to not fall off the Darkside, the boy stabbed his weapon into the shoulder and held onto the handle as tight as he could.

"Woah!" he shouted, feeling himself being pulled away from the monster. The titan sent Sora speeding towards the beach, where a swarm of Shadows waited for him. The teen hit the sand hard; Shadows immediately lunged at him.

Without a moment to waste, Sora swung the Keyblade at the monsters. Feeling the ground shake again, he looked up to see the Darkside had dropped to its knees, and it began to launch projectiles from the gaping, heart-shaped hole in its chest. The orbs flew quickly in Sora's direction. He immediately tried to find something to hide behind, but the barren, flat terrain had little-to-no shelter. Seeing a swarm of Shadows ahead of him, Sora sprinted towards it with the energy blasts descending quickly on him.

As the boy ran past the Shadows, the orbs crashed and sent numerous monsters flying in different directions.

"Haha! Can't believe that worked!" he laughed before running into the Darkside's leg. Sora stumbled back and fell onto the sand. Lifting its twisted foot off the ground, the beast prepared to crush Sora. "Oh, come on," he muttered, rolling out of harm's way. The foot came down fast, causing the ground to shake violently.

The Darkside clenched its enormous fist in irritation, and it once again sent a powerful punch to the sand. Sora fell over from the shockwave that spread from the hit. Sky blue eyes stared up at the beast in anger.

Strengthening his grip on the Keyblade's handle, Sora growled in a low, furious tone, "We were so close to seeing the outside world." He thought back to Riku and Kairi and how they had disappeared without a trace. More than anything right now, he wanted them back— he didn't want to be alone.

Getting up from the ground, Sora lashed out at the creature's fist. As the Darkside began to retract its hand, he jumped onto the appendage and ran up the arm.

"You're done!" he shouted above the wind and thunder. The Keyblade came down hard on the Darkside's tentacle-covered face. A loud screech filled the air as a pale blue light seemed to erupt from its face.

Sora fell back onto whatever was left of the beach. The wind changed; rather than blowing from the side, it moved up towards some sort of portal. No, that gaping hole in the sky was acting like a giant vacuum, sucking up everything in the area. Sora watched as the monster ascended into the portal, only to disappear. Not wanting to be sucked in, he ran to a piece of driftwood and held on as tight as he could, but despite his efforts, his feet were lifted off the ground.

"No! It can't end like this!" the boy cried, trying to think of something. There _had_ to be a way to restore the islands. Sora's blue orbs scanned the now barren wasteland that used to be a tropical paradise. Nothing was left— not even the main island. All those people were gone.

The force of the vacuum grew stronger. With his last ounce of strength gone, Sora's gloved hand lost hold of the wood. A scream left his lips. The land was getting further away now. As he drew closer to the portal, Sora closed his eyes.


	13. Bad News

Feeling a cold drop of water on his cheek, Coda scrunched his face in annoyance.

"Ni, you can just tell me to get up," he muttered in a groggy voice. "Water isn't nece—" When he opened his dark blue orbs, the teen was met with the sight of the forest, and he stopped speaking. Memories of the night before caught up to him. After sending Harmonia presumably out of Northpointe, Coda found a place to spend the night under a tree. His breath came out as a white mist in the cold atmosphere.

With a light groan, he stood up from his spot and began making his way out of the forest. Coda planned to drink a cup of hot chocolate right away the moment he got home.

It had been about a ten minute walk back to their house since the last thing Coda was looking forward to was telling his dad about what happened. His lips tightened as he turned the handle to open the door. Much to his surprise, the room was empty; he was sure his dad would have been up by now. Coda shrugged and decided to make that cup of hot chocolate to warm himself up.

As the boy waited for the milk to get warm, he looked to the stairs and muttered, "Seriously. Dad should've been up by now." Crossing his arms, he leaned against one of the counters. The microwave read one minute and thirty seconds and counting. Coda stared at the floor, trying to think of a way to find Harmonia. That spell could have sent her anywhere; it could take a lifetime to find her.

Then again, many worlds on Northpointe's maps had disappeared, meaning there were less places for him to check. However, there was still the problem of traveling when Coda had no control over where the warp spell would send him.

A knock came at the door, breaking the sixteen-year-old from his thoughts. He immediately went to go open it. When the door swung open, Coda was greeted with the sight of Apollo and Octavius.

"Oh hey, guys," he said in a tired voice.

"Did you find Harmonia?" Octavius asked.

Wincing at the question, Coda started, "Well, you see..." He paused, trying to think of how to explain the situation.

"Oh no, did something happen?" Apollo guessed, concern taking over his expression.

"We... couldn't make it back before the barrier was set," he began to explain. "S-so I, um." There was another pause as the teen tried to get the words out. "I used a spell to get her to a safe place," Coda told them, the words spilling fast out of his mouth.

"You what?!" Octavius asked incredulously.

Putting his hands up in defense, Coda added, "It was the only thing I could think of! I couldn't let Ni stay in the woods for the night."

"He has a point, y'know," Apollo stated. "Harmonia could've froze to death, especially without a jacket." Octavius's gaze moved to the floor.

Shaking his head after a little bit, Octavius brought his head up again and inquired, "Have you seen your dad anywhere?" before the microwave started beeping.

"What do you mean?" the curly-haired brunette questioned, motioning for the boys to come inside. Walking to the microwave to get the cup of water, Coda listened to what they had to say.

"Before Drumline set up the barrier, your dad went to find both of you," Octavius started to explain, rubbing the back of his head. There was a heavy silence in the room; Coda could feel his chest grow uncomfortably tight. "A few search parties were sent to look for you guys, but..." The cellist could not finish his sentence.

Apollo began to further explain, "Some people came back sayin' that a large branch fell off a tree— like a real huge branch," The percussionist stretched out his arms, giving Coda an idea of how big this limb was. "And they think Andante was hit by it, or at least, he was about to be."

"Wait, so that means—" Realizing that the only family he had left went missing, the violinist stumbled back against a counter before dropping to the floor.

"Coda!" he heard Octavius shout. Coda squeezed his eyes shut and curled into a small ball.

"This is all my fault!" he exclaimed though in a strained whisper. Remembering that Andante had trouble casting spells without music, he glanced up and asked, "But, how could Dad even warp himself away?"

Sitting down next to him, Octavius tenderly wrapped his arms around Coda. "That is what we're trying to figure out," he told Coda. The sixteen-year-old felt soft lips against his cheek, and he settled down in the other boy's embrace.

With a week's worth of munny, food, and water, Coda walked into their dad's bedroom. Hidden behind a picture frame was a neiro flower with a dark red center. His fingers stroked the soft petals in a careful manner. A deep and shaky breath left his parted lips. Retracting his hand from the flower, Coda turned to exit the room.

As he descended down the stairs, his footsteps echoed through the empty house. Northpointe was never quite, and the silence in the rooms – even with the distant sound of concerts outside – bothered Coda greatly. Stepping out of the front door at last, the mage was met with his friends. Even Celeste (a seventeen-year-old girl with long, wavy, brown hair and dark skin) was there. The sun was setting.

"You ready?" Apollo asked, worry written all over his expression.

Coda shrugged before answering, "I need to start looking as soon as possible."

"There are many worlds out there," Giga reminded him.

"I know you'll find them," Octavius encouraged him. Coda smiled and stretched his arms out for a large group hug.

"Thanks, guys," he told them, letting his dark blue orbs gaze at them one last time. Summoning his violin from its case, Coda played the song for the warp spell. A bird formed from the light that surrounded him, and he felt himself being carried away from his home world.


	14. The Outside World

After feeling a tongue (ew) lick his entire face, Sora's sky blue eyes fluttered open to find a dog with golden fur and long, black ears. A bright green collar was adorned around its neck. Through blurred vision, Sora could make out a brick wall and a few wooden crates.

"What a dream..." he murmured, still unaware of the strange and new scenery. His sky blue eyes closed again, ready to go back to sleep. A scream left his mouth as the dog pounced on him. He was wide awake now and fully aware of the unfamiliar setting. "Oh my gosh— this isn't a dream!" Sora cried.

As he stood up, the fourteen-year-old studied his surroundings. A starry, night sky loomed over head. Sora was in a space between two buildings. At the exit of the alley, he could make out a dim, orange streetlamp.

"Where am I?" he wondered, looking around. The area was quiet. "Oh, boy," Sora muttered to himself. Bending down, he asked the dog, "Do you know where we are?" For a moment, the dog stared at him with a blank expression.

Suddenly, his ear shot up, and he bolted out of the alley way. Sora's expression turned distressed as he watched the dog leave and disappear around a corner.

"Hey..." he called out, but the dog was already gone. Deciding to take a look around, Sora stepped out of the alley and onto a brick path. As he walked around, he caught sight of a few people standing in an open area that was lit with streetlamps. "This is totally weird..." he whispered under his breath, trying to take in his surroundings. "I'm in another world!" Sora exclaimed in wonder as he looked around.

Turning behind him, Sora noticed a sign on a door.

"Accessory Shop"

Hoping that he would find some answers, Sora pushed on the doors and stepped inside. As the doors behind him closed, he noticed an older man behind the counter. The man wore a white T-shirt that fit tightly around his well-built body, and spiked blonde hair covered his head.

Turning around, the man began to ask, "Hey there, how can I..." He paused as he took a good look at Sora. Sora did the same, taking note of the goggles strapped around the stranger's head and the tough look on his face. The man's expression turned disappointed and he groaned to himself, "Aw, it's only a kid." The brunette pouted at the remark, and he marched up to the counter.

"I'm not a kid— I'm fourteen!" he corrected the man. "And the name's Sora!" he spoke in an irritated voice; the man huffed a little bit before putting his hands on his hips.

"Okay, okay, simmer down," he grumbled irritably. Sora's eyes widened a little bit. Maybe he did come off a bit harsh. "So why the long face, Sora? You lost or somethin'?" the man asked, a change in his mood apparent now.

"No!" he protested, but then he thought for a moment. "Well, maybe," Sora murmured a little more to himself rather than the man. Looking up, he inquired, "Where are we?" and waited for an answer. The man gave Sora a strange look.

"Huh?" he grunted in confusion. "Didja hit your head? We're in Traverse Town," the man explained.

"Traverse Town..." Sora repeated softly. "I'm from the Destiny Islands. So, gramps, is this really another world?" he asked in wonder.

The man's face turned red and he scolded, "Don't call me gramps!" through gritted teeth. "The name's Cid!" Sora sheepishly rubbed the back of his head. Cid rolled his eyes and regained his composture. "Anyways..." he began. "Not sure what you're talking about, but this sure ain't your island," Cid explained, his gaze cast to his left. With a disappointed frown forming on his face, the boy crossed his arms over his chest and thought. After a brief moment, he came to the conclusion that Cid might not be too much help at the moment.

"Hmm... Guess I'd better start looking for Riku and Kairi," he spoke in a quiet voice.

"Well, good luck with whatever it is you're doing. If you ever run into trouble, you come to me," Cid told Sora. "I'll look out for you," he promised, giving the brunette a small, warm smile.

Flashing a grin at Cid as well, Sora turned to the door and said, "Thanks." With determination to find his friends, the boy left the shop.

A sign that he hadn't noticed before hand caught his attention.

"First District"

Sora took a moment to memorize the area. The First District seemed to be very busy with all the shops, but there were only a few people out. However, he shrugged it off as nothing; after all, it was night time. As Sora walked around, he found that many of the shops were closed and that no one in this district seemed to have seen his friends.

With no sign of Riku or Kairi, Sora decided to try the next area. Opening the doors to the Second District, he was met with the sound of footsteps running down the road. Sora watched a man trip onto the floor. There was a terrified look on his face, and a light spontaneously emitted from his chest. A gasp left the boy's lips as he watched the man's heart float out of his body and into the air. What was left of the man disappeared into darkness.

The heart began to take shape before Sora. Frozen to his spot, Sora watched as a creature wearing a gray helmet materialized. Its fingers resembled claws with red tips. An ominous rattle sounded with each little movement it made.

"Haha... wha...?" he laughed nervously as the creature eyed him down through its yellow eyes before disappearing. Once it was gone, Sora let out a sigh of relief; the moment was soon over, however, as more Shadows appeared around of him. "It's those creatures from the island!" Sora soon realized, recognizing their pitch black body and beady, yellow eyes. Recalling the previous encounter with the one wearing a helmet, Sora wondered if they were the same. Both creatures shared the same, small, yellow dots on their faces.

The monsters began to creep closer to him. As Sora watched them carefully, he felt a weight in his right hand. Looking to see what it was, he saw the Keyblade that he had used back on the islands. After taking a look at the Keyblade and the creatures, the fourteen-year-old came to a desicion.

"Aw, heck no." With that, he ran for an opening and jumped off the ledge. More of those monsters appeared up ahead. _I don't have time for this— I need to find Riku and Kairi!_ Noticing a door next to him, Sora slipped through to find himself in another alleyway.

After a good hour-and-a-half of searching, the teen found himself back in the First District without any leads. Sora let out a huff, trying to remember what happened back on the islands. He could recall that Riku was talking about some door that opened, and Kairi disappeared into thin air. Actually, now that he thought about it, both of them disappeared into thin air.

"Hmm... But you can't just turn into air, right?" he pondered to himself. Dismissing the idea, Sora continued to think some more. _Well, it'd be a lot easier if those things stopped attacking me wherever I went,_ he thought to himself.

"They'll come at you out of nowhere," a grim voice said. _Psychic!_ Sora internally screamed.

Turning to his left, he noticed a man with long, brown hair. The stranger wore a black vest over a white T-shirt and had a lion-shaped pedant adorned around his neck; there was a long scar across his face. "Who are you?" His Keyblade materialized in his gloved hand, and he braced himself for anything the stranger had in store for him.

The man simply ignored the question and continued to speak as he walked, "And they'll keep coming at you, as long as you continue to wield the Keyblade." A hand covered by a black glove raised a finger at Sora's key-shaped weapon. Sora pulled a fierce look, but the man continued to ignore him. "But why?" he seemed to ask himself. "Why would it choose a kid like you?"

"Hey, what's that suppose to mean?" an offended Sora demanded, shaking a fist at him. "I'm fourteen and heading into my sophomore year!" he pointed out.

"Never mind," the man muttered. Taking steps towards Sora, he spoke in a menacing tone, "Now, let's see that Keyblade." He reached out a hand as he walked.

"What?" Sora let out, startled. "There's no way you're getting this!" the boy declared as gallantly as he could.

Stopping in his tracks, the stranger let out a grunt. "All right, then have it your way." From a sheath that Sora hadn't noticed before, the man pulled out a broad sword that had a handle resembling the grip of a gun.

Sora immediately regretted aggravating this man. The scar, well-built body, and weapon were obvious signs that the older brunette had years of experience. When the man lunged towards him, Sora snapped back into reality and quickly tried to block the attack. Both weapons crashed into each other, letting out a loud, metallic ring. Pushing off the man, Sora ran down the stairs and into the plaza. All the civilians in the area had run into different buildings to avoid the fight.

"Come back!" the man shouted.

"No way— you're crazy!" Sora yelled back. The man jumped at him again; Sora stepped out of the way and tried to land a hit, but the man was too fast and effortlessly slammed the handle of his blade on the boy's back. Sora hit the ground. There was a throbbing pain where the man had dealt the blow.

"Now, let's see try that again," the stranger said in a low voice. A yelp left Sora's mouth as he felt the man lift him off the ground by his hood. Gritting his teeth, the teen swung the Keyblade into the man's side; the man dropped him back on the floor as he staggered backwards.

"Now... you're... gonna..." Sora breathlessly struggled to say. The pain from the blow was clouding his mind. "You're gonna..." With his vision blacking out, he felt a falling sensation.

"Coda! Coda!"

The distant sound of water grew louder as Riku's aquamarine eyes fluttered open. The ground against him was cold as ice. As his vision cleared, the silver-haired teen was met with the strangest sight. Rather than flowing down, water rose from below, and stone platforms floated above the water's surface.

"Coda!" a young girl's voice called again. She sounded distressed. Riku slowly got up, but his body still felt heavy. He staggered about for a moment.

"Where... am I?" he asked himself. Bringing his gaze up, he saw the source of the voice. There was a brown-haired girl on one of the higher platforms; she was dressed in a long, lavender blouse that went over a white shirt. She had a navy blue case strapped over her shoulder. "Maybe she knows," Riku thought out loud.

Trying to dismiss the vertigo, the fifteen-year-old jumped onto one of the platforms. Whoever she was, she did not seem to notice him and continued to call for Coda. Riku leapt to the next platform, almost falling short as he saved himself by grabbing the edge. The dizziness still lingered. As he moved from one area to the next, Riku tried to recall what happened back on the islands.

He remembered that a large portal opened in the sky. Sora had come for Kairi, but neither of them knew where she was. Sora wasn't here, so that meant that he wasn't able to follow Riku through that portal. _This wasn't suppose to happen, he thought, frustrated that his friends were not there._

At last, he made it to the platform where the girl was. She had her back to him.

"Excuse me?" he called for her attention. A yelp echoed through the chasm, and she jumped a little bit. Riku winced at her reaction— guilty for startling her since she did not seem to calm down right away. He stood still as she studied him with frightened, brown eyes. From where he was, he could see she had a tight grip on the strap of her case.

Her feet began inching backwards as if she planned to run away, but she soon took a deep breath said, "Um, h-hi," in a volume so low, Riku almost didn't hear her over the rising water. She had a shy smile on her face. "Have y-you seen a boy with, um, curly, light brown hair and dark blue eyes? He's, um, kinda tall," she asked, a little louder this time. Her arm stretched upwards as she described this person's height.

"No, sorry," Riku answered, rubbing the back of his head.

"Oh." The girl's brown gaze dropped to the ground.

"Have you seen a boy with spiky hair or a girl with short, red hair?" he asked, hoping that maybe she had seen Sora or Kairi around here. The girl didn't say anything or look up— she just shook her head. Riku sighed in disappointment. For a few moments, the two were silent, and it was clear that this girl wasn't much of a conversationalist. Not wanting to remain in the heavy and uncomfortable silence any longer, Riku asked, "What's your name?"

She flinched for a moment before saying, "Harmonia," in a rushed and soft voice. "And you?" Harmonia stuttered, bringing her eyes back to him. The grip on her case seemed to loosen. "What's your name?"

"Riku," he told her, walking forward.


	15. Hallow Bastion

"This will be your room," Maleficent gestured to the dimly lit chamber. Inside, there was a bed with a yellow blanket in the corner of the room, a desk with a lamp and chair, and a large bookshelf. Riku grimaced at the sight. Everything in there seemed to be covered in dust. However, this was the only shelter around the area.

"Thanks," Riku muttered, hoping that Maleficent would finally leave him and Harmonia alone.

"You're welcome, dear. Harmonia, you may sleep in the room next door," the fairy told the young girl. Riku watched as Harmonia gave her a curt nod. Turning to face the two of them, Maleficent curled her lips into a wicked smile, and the silver-haired teen inwardly cringed at the expression. "I will let you know what it is I need help with in time." With that, she walked away, leaving Riku and Harmonia at the entrance of the bedrooms.

Facing the brunette, Riku opened his mouth to say something, but she walked away from him without a word. He watched as her figure moved hastily out of range.

"She's the only other kid here, and she's determined to stay as far away as she can from everyone," he complained to himself. A sigh left his lips as he thought of what to do. Riku stepped into the bedroom and looked around. The only object of interest was the bookshelf, but as the fifteen-year-old perused the titles, he found that most of them were either spell books or instructions for experimentation.

With a disappointed sigh, Riku sat on the bed and covered his face with his hands. None of this was suppose to happen; it was suppose to be him, Sora, and Kairi exploring new worlds— not getting separated to who knows where. Removing his palms from his face, Riku stared at the floor in frustration. _Are they even safe?_ he wondered, worry relentlessly gnawing at him.

Standing up, Riku murmured, "I'm gonna find some answers."

The castle that Maleficent resided in was tall, and the only way to access the upper levels was through the lifts. Riku recalled that as they made their way to the entrance earlier, there seemed to be a lower area. Guessing that Maleficent was there, he decided to check it out. As he walked through the dark hallway, Riku couldn't help but tense at the grotesque statues that lined the walls. While it was a castle, the place was still falling apart.

At last, Riku made it out to the balcony entrance. A cold mist from the Rising Falls – as Maleficent had called the gravity-defying water – blew in his direction, making him shiver slightly. The silver-haired teen began walking over to the place where he believed Maleficent resided. As he stood under a large, broken arch, he heard a flute playing below him. Riku looked to the water for the source of the sound, but there seemed to be no one there. _That hag doesn't play the flute, right?_ he incredulously thought to himself.

"Is there someone down there?" Riku called out. The playing immediately stopped, and the boy let out a sigh. Disappointed, he turned back to the castle's entrance.

After wandering around the castle for what seemed like an eternity, Riku finally came across a nearly-pitch-black room with other... "people". They seemed to be talking about pure lights, and he immediately frowned at this. Something was just wrong with them. The teen soon caught sight of Maleficent.

Stepping into the chamber, Riku called, "Hey, what do you want with us?" All conversations instantly stopped. Everyone in the room turned to him, and he flinched.

"Is he the one ya brought in?" a male, humanoid being with fiery hair asked.

"Yes— he has _great_ potential," Maleficent answered with a sinister grin.

"Awfully rude to interrupt us like that," an octopus-like woman scoffed.

Dismissing her comment, Maleficent asked, "What brings you to our meeting, Riku?"

"I want to know..." he began boldly, but paused, trying to decided on what to ask. "Do you know where my friends are?" Riku inquired after a moment. The sorceress pulled a long frown.

"I'm afraid I do not," she answered solemnly; there was something else in her voice though, but the fifteen-year-old couldn't make it out. "However, I am willing to help you in your search to the best of my abilities. That is, of course, if you would be so kind as to help us as well," Maleficent added.

"You sure 'bout that?" one of the creatures challenged, bugs crawling in and out of the orifices as he spoke. "Kid looks tough, but I doubt he makes the cut."

Irritated by the sack of bugs, Riku asked, "What do you want us to do?" The fairy turned back to him and smiled.

"We've been running some errands in other worlds," she began to explain. She sounded ecstatic at Riku's compliance. "So long as you cooperate accordingly, I shall grant you what you need to find your friends," Maleficent promised, extending her hand. "Do we have a deal?" Without hesitation, Riku took her bony hand and shook it. "Excellent," she marveled. "Truly excellent."

Mild cheers and applause echoed in the room. As Riku eyed everyone in the room, they all seemed to have the same wicked expression on their faces, but if helping this group of crazies was what it took to find his friends, he was willing to do whatever tasks they had in store for him. After all, this pact would only last until he found Sora and Kairi...

"What about Harmonia's brother?" he inquired as Maleficent began to face the other characters. Even when Harmonia did everything she could to avoid him, Riku still didn't like the idea of leaving her here with the witch.

Maleficent's expression turned dark and she asked, "Why do you care about her when she's already turned her back on you?" The boy gave her an incredulous look.

"She's just shy," he retorted. "You're going to help her find her brother," Riku demanded, causing Maleficent's face to twist into a frown.

"Are you forgetting that _I_ am the one providing you with everything you need?" she challenged him.

Crossing his arms and cocking his head to the side, Riku answered, "No— but if you're willing to get help from a kid, then it sounds like you're pretty desperate." His lips curled into a smirk as she seemed to find herself at a loss for words.

"Very well," she spoke with a strongly passive-aggressive tone. "As long as the two of you aid in our plan, I shall do my part in finding your friends and her brother," Maleficent growled. "Both of you shall be joining Hook in Neverland early tomorrow."

On his way back to his room, Riku once again found himself at the ledge that lead to a lower part of the fortress. That person was playing the flute again. Walking silently to the edge, the silver-haired teen looked down to find Harmonia. She was the one playing flute.

Harmonia sat with her legs folded beneathe her on a stone surface on the water. A pleasant song resonated through the crevasse, and Riku felt himself getting lost in the music. It seemed to have a life of its own, becoming soft only to grow loud again. It reminded him of the ocean that surrounded his island, except with a different perspective. It was tranquil and fluctuating, and yet, enticing and consistent. Needless to say, the fifteen-year-old was speechless.

The song ended as Harmonia let the last note dissipate into the cold air. Standing up from his spot, Riku began to clap, catching the girl's attention immediately. Her face seemed to turn pale at the sight of him, and she began to back away.

"Hey, wait!" the boy called out. "What you played sounded really nice," he tried to compliment her, but Harmonia was already running. Riku's aquamarine eyes widened as the girl's feet landed on the water's surface without breaking it. He watched at as she jumped into a bubble that was floating above the water. As the flautist disappeared into the bubble, it carried her beneath the water.

Riku stood there shocked— both at Harmonia's disappearing act and at how he had scared her off again. A sigh left his parted lips.

"Wow, I'm bad at this," he mumbled to himself.


	16. Chosen

"Come on, lazy bum," a familiar, irritated voice commanded. "Wake up," Kairi's voice chided. Slowly, Sora sat up from his position, his bones popping as he did. His eyes blinked heavily as he tried to adjust to the lighting in the room, and he could just barely make out Kairi's short, red hair. "You okay?" she asked in a more soothing tone.

"I guess..." Sora answered, crossing his legs. The fourteen-year-old had been lying on a soft bed somewhere. They were in a small room with walls lined with stripes. A large, orange rug was spread across a wooden floor. Red curtains shrouded the window next to a door._ Where am I?_ Sora wondered.

Kairi continued to talk, "Those creatures that attacked you are after the Keyblade. But it's your heart they really want, because you wield the Keyblade." Sora's vision was starting to become clearer, and he let out a sigh as he confirmed that one of his friends was really here.

"I'm so glad that you're okay, Kairi," he beamed at her, but her faced scrunched up in confusion.

Putting her hands on her hips, Kairi giggled, "Kairi? Who are you talking about?" A mischievous and proud grin formed on her lips. "I'm the great ninja Yuffie," she corrected him, sticking a thumb to her chest.

"Huh?" Sora gawked, rubbing his sky blue orbs. It really wasn't Kairi— it was an older woman with short black hair. Yuffie had a yellow scarf wrapped around her neck and a silver headband on her head. She wore a dark green mid-drift and gray sleeves.

"I think you might have over done it, Squall," she told someone else in the room. As Yuffie stepped to the side, the brunette boy looked past her to see a familiar stranger.

There was an irritated look on his scarred face as he muttered, "That's Leon," to Yuffie. To Leon's right, the Keyblade rested against the wall.

"The Keyblade..." he breathed, thinking about what Yuffie had told him.

"Yeah, we had to get it away from you to shake off those creatures," Yuffie explained to him, walking towards Leon. Turning around to face Sora, she put her gloved hands to her hips, gave him a smirk, and further explained, "It turns out, that's how they were tracking you," in a knowledgeable voice.

Leon spoke up now: "It was the only way to conceal your heart from them." The man crossed his arms over his chest. "But it won't work for long," he warned Sora. Sora looked down to the floor and gave the others a slight nod. "Still," Leon continued. "Hard to believe that you of all people are the chosen one." Snapping his head up, Sora watched as the taller brunette picked up the Keyblade.

In an instant, the weapon disappeared from Leon's hand with a bright flash of light, and it reappeared in Sora's right hand. A startled gasp left his lips as the weapon materialized in his palm.

"Well, I suppose beggars can't be choosers," Leon mumbled to himself, walking up to Sora.

Annoyed by the man's persistent discouragement and the overall situation, Sora demanded, "Why don't you start making sense! What's going on here?" His face scrunched up into a glare.

"Geez, you gotta calm down," Yuffie laughed before plopping down next to Sora on the bed. "So, you're not from around here, right?" the ninja asked, to which the boy gave a quick nod. "That means, you know how there are thousands of other worlds out there."

"Right?" Sora answered. "I came from the Destiny Islands. We were planning to see the outside world," he told them.

"Well, you weren't suppose to know anything about them," Leon pointed out. "They should be kept secret, and they have been that way because they were never connected," he explained.

"Yeah, up 'til now," Yuffie interjected. Her gaze wandered up to the ceiling and she leaned against her hands on the bed. "Heartless started showing up, and... everything changed." Her tone had a visible change from being peppy just a minute ago to a more distant and wistful voice.

Looking from Yuffie to Leon, Sora asked, "The Heartless?"

"The ones who attacked you, you remember?" she clarified, flicking her gray eyes in his direction.

"Those without hearts," murmured Leon.

"The darkness in people's hearts— that's what attracts them," Yuffie said.

Leon's expression turned grim as he added, "And there is darkness within every heart." Sora gulped nervously. Thinking about how the Heartless went around attacking everyone made him sick. Things couldn't be left like that.

"Hey," Yuffie interrupted Sora's thoughts. "Have you heard of someone named Ansem?" she inquired, turning to face the Key wielder.

"Ansem?" Sora restated.

"Ansem studied the Heartless, and he recorded his findings in a very detailed report," Leon explained. "But that data has been scattered everywhere," he said in a frustrated tone as he put a gloved hand to his face.

"Too many worlds to search, and too many places that report coulda ended up in," Yuffie reiterated. "That kinda information could've had something about getting rid of the Heartless, but of course, we don't have it," she shrugged.

"The only way we know of, as of right now, is the 'key'," Leon pointed to the weapon in Sora's hand.

Gazing at the blade in wonder, Sora whispered, "So... this is the key?" He lifted it up and waved it around a little bit.

"Exactly!" the woman exclaimed.

"The Heartless have great fear of the Keyblade," Leon warned Sora again, turning and walking away from the boy. "That's why they'll keep coming after you no matter what." Sora pouted at that information.

"Well, I didn't ask for this," he stated firmly.

"The Keyblade chooses its master," Yuffie told him. "And it chose you," she added a little sarcastically.

Leaning against the wall again, Leon muttered, "So tough luck."

"How did all this happen?" Sora asked, still unable to fully grasp what he had in store for him. "I remember being in my room..." He thought for a moment, and he gasped as he realized, "Wait a minute!" Putting the pieces of Heartless, the darkness in people's hearts together, and the last events that occured on the islands, Sora asked, "What happened to my home? My island?" He was standing up now as the full picture of what might have happened began to come into view. "Riku! Kairi!" He panicked at the thought of losing his friends— his entire life forever. _What if the Heartless got them?_ he thought, tears started to form at the corners if his eyes.

Sora's hands clenched into a tight fist as he looked to Leon and Yuffie for a response. Leon spoke in a sympathetic tone, "You know what? I really don't know."

Kairi held a balled up fist to her heart. _What just happened?_ she asked herself. Just ten minutes before, the girl could see Sora— she could almost talk to him. Now, she found herself in a warm, yet dark space. Something tugged at her being like an intense, sharp pain.

"Hello?" she called out, her voice echoing through the space. "Sora! Can you hear me?" Kairi waited for a response, but the only voice that came back was her own. That pull still bothered her, and she couldn't help but feel worried for Sora and Riku.


	17. Doubt

As the blue light faded out, Coda found himself surrounded by large dunes of sand. His lips dropped into a frown as the intensity of the sun began to have an effect on him.

"Of all the places I could end up in," he began to complain to himself, removing his sweater to tie it around his waist. "Why did I have to end up in a frickin' desert?" Northpointe was always fairly cool, so high temperatures were a thing the violinist was not used to. Scanning his surroundings, he breathed a sigh of relief as he caught sight of a nearby town.

With hope shining within him, Coda sprinted to the desert civilization. If he was lucky, either Harmonia or Andante – both of them would be preferred – would be there and they could go home. His feet sunk into the sand with each step; grains found their way inside his shoes. Coda mentally groaned about how weird the sand felt against his feet.

Upon reaching the entrance gate, Coda saw a sign. Reaching for a bottle of water, the blue-eyed boy read the sign.

"Agrabah"

As he drank from the bottle, Coda watched as people moved about in the neighborhood. In the distance, the light-colored brunette could make out a bustling marketplace, and he decided that it wouldn't hurt to start there. Coda could feel a few stares in his direction. His stomach churned as he tried to think of an excuse to use to protect the world order. Explaining that he lost his sister was one thing, but trying to work in details like teleportation and storms were another.

Unable to come up with an alibi, Coda decided to just look around for now and ask later. Agrabah's shopping plaza was large; people had to squeeze their way around each other just to get to the right stand. The sixteen-year-old glanced around the crowded space, but he saw no familiar faces.

"Excuse me, are you looking for something?" he heard a voice call out. Turning around, he saw a young woman with jet black hair and warm, brown eyes. Beneath her shawl, Coda could make out a pair of large gold earrings.

"Oh, yes actually," he answered, readjusting his violin. For a moment, he stopped to think whether to ask the woman if she had seen Harmonia or Andante. Realizing that Harmonia must be scared out of her mind, he inquired, "Have you seen a girl with long, dark brown hair? She has brown eyes, and she probably ran away if you made eye contact with her. She's also carrying a flute." The woman put a delicate finger to her lip as she thought.

"I'm afraid I haven't," she responded, crossing her arms. "Who is she?" she asked.

"My little sister. I lost her about a day ago," Coda told the stranger.

Pursing her lips into a sympathetic frown, she said, "That's awful. How did this happen?" Coda started to explain when the woman glanced over his shoulder. Her brown eyes widened, and Coda peeked behind his back. "Let's talk somewhere less noisy," she told him.

"Okay?" Coda responded, confused. The lady lead him to a secluded alleyway and sat down on a wooden crate. The distant clamor of the market place echoed in the air.

"All right, where were we?" she asked, removing the hood of her shawl. There was a pale, aquamarine head band adorned on her head, encrusted with a dark, turquoise gem. Coda began to get the idea that she wasn't a commoner.

"Um..." he began.

"Actually, let me introduce myself first. My name is Jasmine," she told him, extending a hand out to him.

Shaking her hand, Coda greeted, "Coda."

"Great, now how did you lose your sister?" The very question that Coda dreaded had been asked. How was he suppose to explain the situation without raising suspicion?

"Well, I'm from pretty far away, and uh..." Coda paused, trying to come up with an answer. "A storm hit our town, and I left her in a trading caravan," he half-lied. "I don't know where it went." Jasmine's expression darkened.

"You couldn't go with her?" she inquired. Coda shook his head.

"There was only room for one of us," he admitted. Her gaze fell to the floor.

"I understand you meant well, but was there _really_ no other way?" she asked. "She couldn't stay with you?" Coda bit his lip. Maybe Jasmine was right. Maybe if they had kept going, they could have found shelter. Maybe if he had just thought things through, Harmonia would be safe. _No, I have to believe she's okay,_ he thought fiercely.

"Ah, I should've been more patient," Coda scolded himself. His dark blue gaze darted to his side.

"I'm sorry," Jasmine apologized, twiddling her thumbs. She huffed as if coming to a resolution. "When I return to the palace, I'll be sure to tell the guards to be on look out for your sister," she promised him. Coda tilted his head in confusion.

"Palace?" he inquired before crossing his arms.

Nodding, the woman answered, "I'm suppose to be the princess of Agrabah, but lately, some things have been going on, and I want nothing to do with it." Coda watched as Jasmine pushed herself off the crate, and he got up to follow her. She stretched out her arm and pointed to a large, white tower with a golden top.

"You live there?" he gasped in awe at the palace's grandeur.

"Well, the plan was to run away, but since you lost your sister, I can go back and ask the guards to look for her," Jasmine explained; Coda rubbed the back of his head.

"No, it's fine," he told her, dropping his gaze to the floor. "It's my fault we got into this mess— I should've been there for her in the first place," Coda muttered a little more to himself. He thought back to the moment Harmonia had run away from the tree. She had looked so scared and frustrated then. If he hadn't been so oblivious to how she was feeling, she wouldn't be lost out there. Shaking his head, the light-colored brunette began walking back to the market place.

"Where are you going?" the princess asked.

Turning back to her, Coda responded, "I'm going to try looking again." The sound of feet hitting the sand grew louder and closer to him.

"Hey, you look like you could use a break," she offered. Coda smiled and followed her back to the plaza.

"So... when do you plan on going back home?" he asked, trying to take his mind off of Harmonia. Jasmine was silent for a moment, and she stopped in her tracks.

"By the end of today I suppose," she answered, walking forward again. "I'm sure my dad is worried out of his mind and will be relieved to see me, but after telling the guards about your sister, I don't plan on coming back," she said bitterly.

"Why?" he inquired as they turned a corner.

"Suitors," Jasmine simply answered. Coda winced at her response. "I mean, you understand, right? I want to marry someone _I_ love— not someone my dad _thinks_ I should love," she ranted, crossing her arms and pouting.

"You say it, sister," Coda joked, playfully flicking his wrist at her while putting the other hand on his hip. She seemed to get the message. They laughed at the joke before a shout cut through the air.

"Hey, what are you doing with the princess?!" a deep, threatening voice boomed from the other end of the alley.

Putting his hands up in defense, Coda argued, "I haven't done anything, sir!" From the corner of his eye, he could see Jasmine hide under her hood and begin to back away from the guard.

"Save your lies, scum," the man growled, unsheathing a razor-sharp scimitar.

"Please, this boy is innocent," Jasmine pleaded, but the guard grabbed the two by their arms.

"Nonsense!" he scoffed. "You go missing, and I find this chump with you in a secluded alley."

_But I'm gaaaaayyyyyyyy!_ Coda internally screamed. Out of nowhere, a large rock came down on the guard's head, causing him to drop them to the floor.

"Hey, are you two okay?" a new voice called. Coda looked above them to find a young man with medium-length, black hair and tanned skin. He wore a deep purple vest that exposed his chest, a red cup hat, and patched, baggy, white pants.

"Y-yeah," Coda stuttered, picking himself off the sand. Jasmine did the same.

"Great. Now hurry before he gets back up," he urged the two. Coda bent over to help Jasmine get on the roof where their savior was. As Jasmine ran for safety, the man reached a hand out for Coda. However, before the violinist could take it, a strong grip pulled on the back of his shirt.

"Not so fast," the guard growled. A yelp left the boy's throat as he was yanked back. Struggling to free himself from the guard, Coda kneed the man in the gut, causing him to drop the boy.

As he got up from the floor, Coda ran for the roof. He grabbed the hand of the stranger and pulled himself up.

"Okay, let's go!" the stranger told the violinist. Coda followed him through various twists and turns on the buildings. Checking behind his back, the teen saw that they had lost the guards. The man seemed to notice this because he slowed down.

"Thanks for the help back there," Coda said between breaths.

The man turned to face him and replied, "Oh, it was nothing. The name's Aladdin, by the way." Aladdin extended a hand towards Coda.

"Coda," he said back. He watched as Aladdin turned around and began to walk ahead. "Hey, wait," he called.

"What is it?" Aladdin asked.

"Have you seen a girl with long, dark brown hair carrying a flute?" Coda interrogated. "I'm looking for my sister, and I lost her by sending her away during a storm," he explained further. Aladdin put a finger to his chin and stared at the floor as he thought.

"No, I haven't," he answered.

After a moment of silence, Coda asked another question: "Do you think she should've stayed with me in the storm?" There was another pause.

"Maybe," he responded after a few seconds. "But if you felt that she wasn't safe at the moment, then you shouldn't worry about whether you had made the right decision," Aladdin elaborated, making Coda feel a little better.

"Well, thanks for everything. Could you tell Jasmine that too?" he requested. "It looks like I can't stay here anymore."

"Of course," Aladdin told him. Waving goodbye, Coda ran across the rooftops to get to the gate he had entered through before. Harmonia and their dad were still out there somewhere, and he had to hurry. If he found Harmonia, that meant she could help him find Andante; then they could go home together.


	18. It's Raining Ducks and Dogs

"The Keyblade can supposedly unlock almost anything," Leon explained when Sora asked about the Keyblade's powers. "You're bound to run across treasure chests and other locks. Try it out." Sora watched as Leon pointed a finger at a chest that was sitting on top of a small table. Walking up to the locked container, Sora summoned the Keyblade. Upon noticing that the weapon would not fit in the keyhole, the boy tapped the top of the chest, and a clicking sound could be heard. The lid of the chest swung open; inside, there was an elixir.

"Excellent job, Key Master," Yuffie half-teased, clapping her hands. Sora smiled and rubbed the back of his head in embarrassment. After learning that his friends might be in danger, Yuffie talked with him to cheer him up. She was right: just because Kairi or Riku weren't in this world doesn't mean that they were gone forever.

"Well, sorry to interrupt, but sooner or later, the Heartless will find you," Leon reminded Sora. "You'd best prepare yourself," he advised.

Tilting his head in confusion, Sora asked, "Prepare myself?" Leon's expression grew darker.

"To fight for your life," he answered grimly. The boy responded with nervous laughter. "Are you ready?"

Sora shook his head before answering, "I'm ready!" If he really was a hero, he was ready to help all the worlds out there. Leon smiled at his newfound determination.

"Yuffie," he called, pushing himself off the wall. "Let's go join Aerith. She should be there by now with the other visitors," Leon told the ninja. Sora looked over to Yuffie to find that she was no longer sitting on the bed. Yuffie's gray eyes were wide with fear.

"Leon!" she screamed, pointing at the floor before her. The fourteen-year-old brunette watched as a Soldier Heartless appeared in the room. Its armor rattled loudly as it "danced" its way over to them.

"Yuffie, go!" Leon told her. Yuffie ran to a door that had been next to Leon. Both Sora and Leon had their weapons ready to attack. "Sora," the man called. The boy looked at him. "Let's go!" With that, Leon slammed the blade of his weapon into the Soldier, sending it flying through an open window.

Leon then jumped off the balcony; Sora followed, amazed at how none of them sustained any injuries. More Heartless waited for them at the bottom. He was about to charge into them when Leon stopped him.

"Don't bother with the small fry. Find the leader!" he told the Key wielder. As Sora gave the man a quick nod, Leon turned and began running through the Heartless. Sora followed him into the Second District. There were so many of them, and the moment they saw the Keyblade, they turned their complete attention to them.

"Are you sure we shouldn't be focusing on them right now?" Sora asked as he dodged their attacks.

"We take down their boss, we take down most of the Heartless," he explained, driving his blade through a Shadow that started chasing Sora. "Now, c'mon— we have to move." Sora nodded and continued to push his way through the Heartless.

As he avoided their attacks, he wondered to himself what they were even looking for. He knew they needed to find the boss, but how would he know which Heartless was the boss?

"Sora, I'm going to make sure everything is fine in the First District," Leon told him, heading to the gate. "Check things out at the Third District for me." Sora nodded.

"On it," he replied, heading down the stairs and over to the narrow path. Some Shadows blocked the door that lead into the next district, and Sora quickly defeated them.

When he stepped through the door, he noticed that it seemed relatively void of Heartless. Still, he checked anyway, especially considering how they tend to some out of nowhere.

All was quiet until a loud scream rang through the district. Sora looked up to see two figures flying towards him: a duck wielding what looked like a wand, and a dog carrying a shield. They were falling rapidly in his direction, and Sora let out a yell as he tried to avoid getting crushed. His efforts were quickly rewarded with the two landing right on top if him, sending them all to the floor. Sora groaned in pain— his vision was slightly distorted. _Why me?_ he wondered to himself.

As Sora recovered from the landing, he heard the animals exclaim, "The Key!" Sora raised an eyebrow in confusion. _Were they after the Keyblade too? Should I be worried?_

The ground beneath them began to shake without warning. The three of them let out a few cries as tall, stone walls trap them in the area. Soldiers appeared on top of the pillars; their beady eyes fell upon the Keyblade. The Heartless jumped down, ready to attack. Scrambling to their feet, Sora and the other two prepared to fight back.

Sora lunged at one of the Soldiers, swinging the Keyblade in its direction. But the Heartless stepped to the side and pounced towards him.

"Fire!" Sora heard the duck call. A small blaze hurtled into the monster; the air burned as the fireball exploded against the Heartless's body.

Turning to the magician, Sora started to say, "Thanks for—"

"Stay focused!" he scolded, sending another flare in the direction of another Heartless.

"Aw, don't mind him," the dog reassured Sora as he knocked a Soldier to the side with his shield. "Donald's just upset 'cause he got squished behind a door today, a'hyuk!" Sora laughed at the dog's comment before rushing one of the Soldiers. The Keyblade cut through it with ease. Three Heartless remained now, and Sora and the other two were ready to finished them off.

"CHARGE!" the duck shouted as they rushed into the Heartless. With a few hits from the shield, the magic, and the Keyblade, the Heartless dissipated into thin air. Sora was relieved that it was all over until a loud, metallic rattle echoed in the area. The three of them lifted their gazes up to see a large silver body fall into the Third District. Hands, feet, and a head assembled themselves on the body.

Remembering what Leon was talking about earlier, Sora asked, "Is that the boss?" as he stepped back to look at the entire monster.

"It must be, otherwise I wouldn't think it'd be so big," the dog commented, raising his shield. The brunette gulped as his grip on the Keyblade's handle grew tighter. Pushing his fear down, Sora leapt to attack the hands. The Guard Armor appeared to wince as the weapon struck its metallic hand. As Sora landed back on the ground, the Guard Armor began spinning its hands around its body. The dog brought up his shield, and the metal claws rapidly scratched the surface.

"Fire!" the duck chanted again, forming a blaze at the end of his wand. Launching from the wand, the inferno knocked the Guard Armor back, and the three of them breathed a sigh of relief. Sora watched as the pieces separated from the main body. The feet made their way towards him, sending small shockwaves outwards with each step. Jumping off the ground, Sora struck the feet with the Keyblade, and they disappeared into a dark cloud. He looked over to the others, and the hands dissipated as the dog struck them with his shield.

Regrouping, the three of them prepared to face the head and body. The Guard Armor rose higher, leaving the Heartless out of their reach.

"Now what?" Sora asked, keeping his blue gaze focused on the Heartless.

"I'll hit it with my magic," the duck answered, preparing another fire spell. Before he could cast it, however, the Guard Armor descended quickly and hit the ground hard. A strong shockwave knocked the three of them off their feet.

As the other two struggled to recover, Sora rushed the Heartless and struck the head with his Keyblade. The Guard Armor froze for a moment; then it began to rattle uncontrollably. Its head fell to the floor, a bright light burst from its body as a heart floated into the night sky, and the rest of it disappeared.

"So, you were looking for me?" Sora inquired, pointed a finger towards himself. The other two nodded in affirmation.

"They too have been seeking the wielder of the Keyblade," a familiar voice added. Sora turned around to find Leon and Yuffie. They looked tired from fighting the Heartless. The brunette looked slightly to the floor. How many people knew about the Keyblade, and what was he suppose to do now?

"Hey," the dog started to say. "Why don't you come with us? We can go to other worlds on our vessel," he suggested.

Lowering his head, Sora thought out loud, "I wonder if I could find Riku and Kairi..." There was no sign of his friends in this world, so they were probably somewhere else out there. Still, how many places would he have to check?

"Of course!" the duck reassured him, causing the boy to quickly look up. An incredulous look soon appeared on his face as he watched the two whisper to each other.

"Sora, go with them," Leon told him, taking a few steps forward. "Especially if you want to find your friends." A deep sigh left his lips.

"Yeah, I guess," he murmured, keeping his head low. Even if this was the best chance he had at finding his friends, they didn't seem too trustworthy.

"But you can't come along looking like that. Understand?" the duck told him. "No frowning. No sad face. Okay?" he instructed.

"Yeah, ya gotta look funny, like us!" the dog added cheerfully.

Pushing the dog to the side, the duck continued, "This boat runs on happy faces." Sora's eyes narrowed slightly.

"Happy?" he challenged them. From the corner of his eye, he could see their expectant faces, and he couldn't stay upset. "CHEEEEEEESSSSSSSSE!" he held out as he pulled at the corners of his mouth and rolled his eyes up. His tone fell flat as he waited for a reaction from the two, and his expression turned into a look of confusion as no one uttered a single laugh.

Out of nowhere, the two started cackling hysterically. They had wide, happy smiles on their faces.

"That's one funny face," the dog said between laughs. Sora laughed too as he watched them. He hadn't felt this happy since he talked with Kairi on the docks.

"Okay, why not?" Sora spoke between giggles. "I'll go with you guys." As everyone settle down, the two stretched out their hands, their palms facing towards the ground.

"Donald Duck," the bird told Sora.

"Name's Goofy."

"I'm Sora." The three of them placed their hands in the center.

"All for one," Goofy started to say as the boy placed his hand on top of theirs. "And one for all."


	19. Opening Up

_Today was a nightmare,_ Harmonia thought to herself as she walked down the hallway to her new bedroom. It was one thing to be stranded in a world without any means of getting back home, but it was another thing getting stuck with a crazed witch in her castle. The girl let out a sigh as she pondered how she would escape. The water way had looked promising at first, but there was no exit at the end. Swimming didn't seem like a good option either. Looking up from the floor, Harmonia saw Riku at the door to his room, and she immediately looked down again to avoid eye contact.

Safety was just within her reach as she began to turn the door's handle until she heard Riku say, "That song you played was really nice." She flinched as he started talking and remained silent and frozen in place. "Hey," the silver-haired teen started. "Is there something wrong with me?" he asked.

"Look, I'm bad at this, okay?" Harmonia told him bluntly. "So just drop it." The brunette peeked to see if he would leave, but Riku walked a little closer to her.

"I get that you're shy, so you start whenever you feel like you're ready," Riku spoke in a calm, soothing tone. Harmonia's eyes widened at this. He wasn't like Coda's friends who asked her all the questions at once; Riku was letting her take control of the conversation.

Seeing that he was about to turn to head into his room, Harmonia asked, "What's your favorite color...?" Her hand clenched into a fist when Riku started laughing at her horrible excuse for a conversation starter.

"I never gave it much thought, but yellow and blue are nice colors," he answered when he was done laughing. Harmonia looked up shyly. There was a soft-yet-bold grin on Riku's face, and Harmonia marveled at how confident he was. He was everything she wanted to be. "What about you?" he asked, snapping Harmonia back into reality.

"Purple, I guess," she answered, composing herself a little bit more. "It is the color of my timbre after all."

"What's timbre?" Riku inquired.

"Oh, right. You're not an instrumage," she recalled, causing the look of confusion on Riku's face to grow. Harmonia pulled her hands to her chest as she thought of how to explain what a timbre is. "Um, it's like an aura that allows people to cast spells using music, and each color comes with some perks," she explained.

"So what can you do with a purple timbre?" he asked, crossing his arms. Harmonia grimaced at the question.

"Actually, purple and gray timbres aren't that special— they're useless," she muttered, moving to hold her arm. A silence loomed over the two. And just when things were starting to work out, she inwardly complained.

"Is there anything else you want to ask?" Riku tried to break the silence.

"What was your home world like?" Harmonia inquired, curious to know what kind of world he had come from.

Riku paused to think before answering, "I'm from this small group of tropical islands. It's..." There was another silent interlude as the teen thought of what to say. "It's mostly just quiet and boring there," he finished, rolling his eyes. Harmonia's lips parted slightly in wonder.

"Wow, that's very different from my world," she gasped. "So you actually live near a beach, right?"

"They're called the Destiny Islands for a reason," he retorted, making them both laugh. The brunette found herself shocked as she realized that she was laughing with someone she hardly knew. She smiled to herself, proud that she was able to make friends with someone on her own. "What about you?" Riku asked. "Why'd you ask about the beach?" Harmonia turned to face him better and fixed her posture.

"Northpointe's shore is rough," she began to explain. "There's a lot of rocks in the sand, and the whole cliff is surrounded by pointed stones. The water's really cold too." Riku gave her a slight nod as he listened to her answer.

"So that means not a lot of people go there, huh," he elaborated on Harmonia's response. "Is it quiet like the islands too?"

"If by quiet you mean silent, then no," she told him, giggling a little bit. "Northpointe is a world of music; almost everyone either sings, dances, or plays an instrument. You can always hear the distant sound of concerts where ever you go there," Harmonia half-lamented.

"Sounds hard to get any sleep there," Riku pointed out, smiling at her description of Northpointe. "Damn, your home world seems so much more exciting than mine. Everyday is the same back home," he muttered, causing Harmonia to wince at his tone. Noticing this, Riku said, "Don't worry about it. I left because I wanted to see other places."

"You wanted to leave?" she questioned him. "There wasn't anything that made your world special?" Harmonia watched as Riku thought of an answer.

"Well, there's the legend of the paopu fruit," he started to say. "When two people share one, they'll stay a part of each others' lives... no matter what happens," Riku murmured the last part, and there was an apparent drop in his tone.

Reaching out to him slightly, Harmonia asked, "Did you share one with someone?" Riku's face turned red.

"N-no," he stuttered, losing his cool demeanor for a moment. "And it's just a myth anyway, so it probably doesn't really work." The silver-haired teen rubbed the back of his head. Harmonia gave him an incredulous look, but she decided to drop that topic. She didn't want to force anything too personal.

As the two talked more and more, Harmonia found herself growing comfortable around Riku. She was amazed at how easily he was able to get her to talk. Back in Northpointe, it was only ever her family that she talked to— even when someone came to visit their house.

"What about your friends? What were they like?" she asked, curious to know who Sora and Kairi were.

"When you look at Sora, he looks like he'd be the most energetic out of the three of us," Riku started to explain. His lips formed into a smirk as he gave a short laugh. "But he's probably the laziest person I've met," he admitted. The brunette let out a soft laugh too.

"Really?"

"Yeah. When we decided to build a raft to see other worlds, I did all the work by myself," he boasted a little. "I went looking for him, and I find him taking a nap on the beach!" They laughed at his comment. "Still," he continued to say. "Sora's so easygoing, like there's nothing wrong in his world. I wish I could live the way he does." Harmonia hummed in agreement.

"That'd be nice," she murmured, imaging what her life might have been like if she was not so anxious all the time. "What about Kairi?" she inquired.

"Kairi's probably the sweetest and kindest person I've met," Riku began, closing his eyes. "She's lazy like Sora, but at least she's always eager to help with something." There was a small, warm grin on his face, and Harmonia understood how he must have felt about Kairi. "You know, Kairi isn't from the islands," Riku added.

"She came from another world?" Harmonia inquired, tilting her head slightly.

Nodding, Riku continued to explain, "One of the other reasons why we wanted to leave was to find Kairi's home world. She appeared on the islands when she was about five." Harmonia's brown eyes widened a little bit.

"She's been gone from home for a while," she whispered to herself. Looking back up a Riku, the brunette asked, "Does she remember what her home world was like?" The fifteen-year-old shook his head.

"The only thing Kairi remembered was her name," he explained. There was a sad look in his eyes as he seemed to remember the events of that day.

"I'm sorry for asking," the flautist blurted out, feeling guilty for pushing personal subjects too far twice now. She flinched as she felt a hand on her should. Casting her gaze up, Harmonia saw Riku standing before her. He had a gentle, reassuring smile on his face.

"Don't worry about it," he told her. "Why don't you tell me about Coda?" Riku suggested.

"Coda is my older brother," she started. "I don't get to see him too much during the day since he's always out with his friends, but when he comes home he always tells me about his day," Harmonia reminisced, smiling at her memories of Coda.

"You don't leave your house much, do you?" Riku said in realization. Harmonia shook her head.

"No, I've never had any friends outside of my family. Coda would be so proud of me if he was here," she responded, giving Riku a small smile.

"How did you even get separated from Coda?" he asked, and Harmonia's smile dropped.

Stuttering, she asked, "W-why would you want to know that?" Her voice was beginning to tremble as she clutched her arm. Harmonia's brown eyes darted to the side and her lips formed into a nervous smile as she tried to hold back her emotions.

"Just curious."

"I... was..." The fourteen-year-old tried desperately to speak, but it felt as if there was a hand clenched around her throat. Harrowing memories came back to her— the way Coda's friends watched her with piercing gazes and the events that took place on the cliff before Coda came to get her. Harmonia's hand balled up as she began to shake uncontrollably. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes, and the girl turned away from Riku.

Just then, she felt a pair of strong arms wrap around her, and she tensed up. Harmonia wasn't much for hugging, unless it was with one arm. She tried to tell Riku that hugging didn't work for her, but she could not get any words out still. He seemed to notice how uncomfortable she was because he started gently stroking her long, dark brown hair. Gradually, Harmonia let herself relax in his arms a little bit. Her head leaned in towards him hesitantly before he pulled her in.

A gasp escaped Harmonia's parted lips as she heard the muffled sound of Riku's heart. Realizing that he trusted her and wanted to help her, the brunette let the tears that were forming in her eyes roll down her cheeks. Harmonia moved to return the hug and buried her face deeper. For the first time since she arrived at Hallow Bastion, Harmonia felt content.

"That little squirt took down that Heartless!" a voice boomed in surprise and frustration. Maleficent glanced at the Greek god of death from the projection in slight annoyance. "Who'd have thought it?" Hades exasperated.

"Such is the power of the Keyblade. The child's strength is not is own," Jafar scoffed, running a hankerchief over his golden staff.

"Why don't we turn him into a Heartless?" the witch heard Ursula say from her pool before cackling. "That'll settle things quick enough." Maleficent narrowed her gaze as she thought about it. Ursula made a very valid argument.

Captain Hook, who looked up from shining his hook, added, "And the brat's friends are the king's lackeys." Everyone in the room nodded in agreement. "Swoggle me eyes, they're all bilge rats by the look of them," the pirate commented, throwing his arms into the air as if the meer sight of the wielder and the king's fools burned his eyes. Maleficent rubbed her temple as she listened to the clamor.

"You're no prize yourself," Oogie retorted, wearing a repulsive smirk on his face. The bag of bugs let out a hearty laugh, as did everyone else aside from Maleficent and Hook.

"Shut up!" Hook snapped, pointing his hook hand at Oogie.

"Enough," Maleficent ordered them, tapping her staff on the floor to get everybody else's attention. She had made a decision on what to do. Everyone's eyes focused on the fairy. Taking that as a sign to continue, she told them, "The Keyblade has chosen him. Will it be he who conquers the darkness? Or will the darkness swallow him?" Crooked grins formed on everyone's faces as they giggled in delight. "Either way, he could be quite useful..." she trailed off.

"But still, the Keyblade holds unimaginable power," Ursula pointed out, crossing her arms. "There's no telling what could go wrong."

"Frankly, I agree with fish breath over there," Hades remarked, gesturing over to the now agitated sea witch.

"Ah, but you forget— we already have five of the princesses," Maleficent reminded them. "There's Aurora..."

"Snow White and Cinderella..." Hook added.

"Belle and..." Oogie paused, trying to remember the other princess they had.

"It's Harmonia," the fairy told them.

"You sure 'bout her?" Oogie questioned, raising a hypothetical eyebrow. "We haven't found any other Princesses of Heart since Belle. What makes you so sure about Harmonia?" the bag pushed the subject.

"You all sensed it. Not one of us could sense a single drop of darkness in that girl's heart— she has to be one of them," Maleficent reminded them. As she gazed across the room, she could see expressions of doubt form on their faces.

"Yes, but something is different about her," Jarfar said, letting his eyes fall to the ground. Maleficent's lips grew tight as she listened to the sorcerer's words. He was right. Something was different about the absence of darkness in Harmonia's heart. Everyone had agreed that there was no shadow to be found, but it still felt like something was suppose to be there.

"Yeah, and even if we do have most of the princesses, is it really a safe move to let this kid jump world-to-world with the Keyblade?" Hades asked.

"Of course, and remember," she started to say. "There is potential in that boy Riku."

"As long as he and Harmonia don't get too chummy," Hook muttered and continued to loudly ramble about teenage relationships.

Annoyed by his ranting, Maleficent reminded him, "Hook, Riku and Harmonia will be joining you in Neverland as we still need to search your world for another maiden." The pirate's eyes grew wide. Before he could protest, the fairy continued, "Since you seem so passionate about keeping them apart, you may take responsibility for that tomorrow. Remember, we won't be able to use Harmonia if they grow close. Understand?" Her eyes scanned the faces in the room as they all nodded. "Excellent. You're all dismissed."


	20. Wonderland and a Plan

"Huh, I wonder why this place has a big hole in the ceiling," Coda pondered out loud as he stood beneath a gaping indentation. As the violinist stared into the abyss above him, he considered sending a small flare up in order to see where it lead.

Coda moved the case so he could remove the instrument from it, and suddenly, he heard what sounded like screaming coming from the hole. Looking up, he let out a yelp as three figures fell on top of him.

"Ugh... what— where did you guys come from?" Coda groaned as he pushed himself off the ground.

"Um, from that hole...?" the spiky-haired brunette answered. Coda looked up again only to see the same dark tunnel. "Do you know where we are? We..." The other boy had started to say something else, but the duck he was traveling with seemed to glare at him.

"We're not from around here," the feathered companion stated while continuing to glare at the brunette.

Rubbing the back of his head, Coda answered, "Sorry to break it to ya, but I'm not from around here either." The violinist reached a hand out to them. "I'm Coda."

"Sora," the boy responded, shaking Coda's hand while giving him a bright grin. "The other two are Donald Duck and Goofy," Sora further explained, gesturing to the bird and the dog. Turning towards Goofy, Coda saw that he was still lying on the floor, and a laugh escaped his lips at the sight. The sound of footsteps hitting the floor rapidly soon caught their attention. A small, white rabbit ran past Goofy as he got off the ground.

"Oh, my fur and whiskers!" he cried, ignoring the four other people in the room. "I'm late, I'm late, I'm late!" the rabbit shouted as he scurried down a hallway. "Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear! I'm here, I should be there!" he continued to ramble on about some queen before his form disappeared down the hall.

"Well... that was..." Coda paused as he tried to think of the right word to describe the scene that had just taken place. "Odd." Talking animals was one thing, but to speak in rhyme and ramble about a queen were another.

"Yup," Sora agreed. "Maybe we should go check it out?" he suggested. Coda nodded and watched as the three of them walked ahead and into the hallway. He could immediately sense there was something special about Sora, but he wasn't sure what it was. Sora's presence seemed to brighten up Coda's mood. The brunette was a good-spirited kid, but there was something else about that spirit that set Sora apart from others.

The hallways didn't seem long, but to have windows when they were presumably underground and a plate rack was rather off. Coda watched as Sora opened the door at the end. And then another, and another.

"Gawrsh, I wonder what kinda world has to use three doors," Goofy gasped, already peeking on what was on the other side.

Squeezing next to the dog, Sora stated, "Hey, I wanna see too!" Curiosity peaked, Coda moved closer to get a look too.

"What's on the other side?" the violinist asked as he peered over them.

"Let me see!" he heard Donald exclaim. Coda felt a sudden weight and webbed feet on his shoulders. He immediately lost balance, and the four of them came falling forward through the door. As they got up, Coda noticed the rabbit running across the floor.

"Hey, there it goes," he told them, pointing at the rabbit. They watched as he hurried into a small door— a door much smaller than he was beforehand. There were other strange things in the room as well: all the furniture (excluding a small bed) looked as if it had been squished flat against the floor.

"What kinda place is this?" Sora wondered out loud. Once everyone got off the floor, they moved to investigate the small door the rabbit had run into. Bending down to the door's level, Sora asked, "How did he get so small?"

"No, you're simply too big," the doorknob retorted out of nowhere. A pair of drowsy, brass eyes stared back at them.

"It talks!" Donald exclaimed. They all gawked at the doorknob as it let out a big yawn. Coda couldn't take his eyes off the door. This world was something out of his own imagination.

"Must you be so loud?" it scolded after yawning. "You woke me up."

"Sorry," Coda managed to get out as he slowly recovered from that surprise.

Goofy waved and gave the knob a wide grin. "Good mornin'."

"Good night!" it shouted back, making Coda and Sora flinch at its cranky tone. "I need a bit more sleep," it explained, looking as if it were about to pass out again.

"Wait," Sora called, reaching his hand out for a brief moment. "What do we have to do to grow small?" he asked.

Cracking its brass eyes open again, it suggested, "Why don't you try the bottle..." It seemed to move to gesture behind the group. "Over there?"

Coda's dark blue orbs widened as he watched the table spring up from its flattened state. Two bottles, with blue and red labels, were sitting at the top.

"Woah, can all the furniture move like that?" Coda asked, impressed with the display of this world's magic. The knob didn't respond and had already fallen back asleep. "Huh, guess we'll just have to try different things ourselves."

"Yeah, probably shouldn't wake 'im up anymore," Sora agreed before turning back to the bottles on the table. Picking up the blue bottle, the fourteen-year-old read aloud, "Drink me." He glanced at Donald, Goofy, and Coda before shrugging. Coda shrugged back. Sora went ahead and drank some of of the liquid inside. A white cloud appeared around him, and he began to shrink.

"Wak! What kind of drink is this?" Donald demanded, peering into the bottle.

"Sora," Goofy bent down to Sora's level. "Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think so," the boy answered. "Hey, maybe we can find out where the rabbit went now," he suggested.

"Not sure if we can go through the door though," Goofy pointed out.

"We'd better start looking then," Coda heard Donald suggest. He nodded and began to look around the room with the other two. The room wasn't big, so searching wouldn't be too hard.

Eventually, the violinist noticed an opening behind the bed.

"Hey, I think I found something," he called to Sora (who had placed himself on Goofy's shoulder), Donald, and Goofy. As they walked over to him, he tried to pull the bed to the side but found that it was near impossible to move. "Ah, a little help please?" he sheepishly requested. The three of them pulled as hard as they could at the bed, but it would not budge. Coda pondered as to how it could possibly seem so heavy. It was small in size, and the frame seemed to be made of a really light wood. His blue eyes drifted to the left and noticed a clock flattened against the wall.

"WHY ISN'T THIS WORKING?!" Donald screamed as he jumped up and down on the bed.

"Donald, can I try something?" Coda asked. Crossing his arms, Donald stomped off the bed. Putting his hands on the frame of the bed, he pushed as hard as he can, making the bed fly into the wall. Coda fell forward as the bed sped away from him.

"Nice one, Coda!" he heard Sora cheer.

Rubbing the back of his head, he responded, "Heh, thanks." Without another moment wasted, the rest of them drank from the blue bottle and headed into the opening that had been hidden behind the bed.

Once they stepped through, they were met with a garden with a hedge archway shaped like a heart. Coda could make out a line of of card-like soldiers just beyond the arch.

"What's going on over there?" Sora wondered out loud. He turned to Donald and asked, "Should we go check it out?"

"No, but if you really want to see what's going on, you shouldn't cause any commotion," the duck warned. Coda and the others walked forward to try and get a better view of what was going on. They watched as the card soldiers stepped to the side, and they could now see a young, blonde girl in a blue and white dress standing at a podium.

A fanfare sounded in the air, catching Coda's attention immediately. He saw the White Rabbit atop a flight of stairs.

"Court is now in session!" he heaved through his ragged breaths. Coda and Sora turned back to the center of the garden.

Shocked, the girl on the podium asked incredulously, "I'm on trial? But why?"

"Her majesty, the Queen of Hearts, presiding!" the rabbit shouted. Coda's eyes moved up a large stand before the podium. A woman with tied-back, black hair and a pompous red and black dress appeared.

"This girl is the culprit," she declared, waving a staff with a heart on top. "There's no doubt about it." Her beady eyes rested menacingly on the girl as she slammed her fists on the stand. "And the reason is..." Coda grew tense as he awaited the Queen's evidence. It was hardly even a minute into the trial and strong claims were already being made.

"Wow, law seems pretty strict around here," Coda whispered to Sora. The spiky-haired boy nodded in response.

"Because I say so, that's why!" Her dramatic change in volume made Coda jump.

"That is so unfair!" the young girl protested.

"Well, have you anything to say in your defense?" the Queen asked. She tapped the end of her staff and pointed the heart at the girl.

Putting one hand on her hip, the girl pointed a finger at the Queen and stated, "Of course! I've done absolutely nothing wrong!" She crossed her arms, looking ready to face a long debate. "You may be queen, but I'm afraid that doesn't give you the right to be so... so mean!" she exclaimed. The queen frowned at this.

"Silence!" she scowled, earning another jump from the group. "You dare defy me?" she challenged the girl. Her fists seemed to shake the area as they came down on the table.

"Hey, guys," Sora spoke up. Coda turned to him. "We should help her out," he told them.

"Yeah, but the—" Donald began to say.

"We're outsiders, so wouldn't that be muddling?" Goofy asked. Coda gave the three of them a look. _Do they know too?_he wondered.

"'Meddling'!" Donald corrected him.

"Oh yeah. And we..." Goofy paused for a moment, glancing at Coda. "We can't just interrupt a trial." The sixteen-year-old frowned. Maybe in other worlds it would be wrong to intervene in a trial, but Wonderland seemed like an exception due to its strange rules.

"The court finds the defendant..." the Queen continued. The four of them turned back to the opening. "Guilty as charged! For the crimes of assault and attempted theft of my heart, off with her head!" Her heart shaped staff once again pointed to the young girl, who was astonished by the outcome. The girl gasped as she heard the verdict.

"No! No! Oh, please!" the girl pleaded desperately. Coda's fists clenched at this. The way things were being handled in this trial was not reasonable at all, and the girl looked hardly capable of assault. Sora seemed to feel the same way as he began to march forward.

"Hold it right there!" he shouted. Coda, along with Donald and Goofy, followed him to make sure nothing bad happened to him.

"Who are you?" the Queen demanded. "How dare you interfere with my court?"

"Excuse me," Sora apologized, keeping a somewhat calm and confident face on. "But we know who the real culprit is!" he declared. Coda gave a sharp inhale as he heard Sora speak. He knew something had to be done; he just expected to have a plan at the ready.

Goofy, who seemed to not understand the weight of the situation, added, "Uh-huh. It's the Heartle—" before covering his mouth. Both Coda and Sora glanced at Goofy before turning back to face the Queen.

"Anyway, she's not the one you're looking for," Sora told the Queen.

Tapping her staff against the wood, she spoke, "That's nonsense. Have you any proof?" Coda watched as Sora's confidence began to waver.

"Of course we have proof!" Coda blurted out without thinking. Her eyes were on him now. "And when we find it, we'll show you that she's innocent." He gave a sheepish smile. The Queen looked unimpressed and unconvinced, but within a matter of seconds, the girl was locked in a golden birdcage that stood beside the Queen's stand.

"Bring me evidence of Alice's innocence!" she ordered them. "Fail, and it's off with all your heads! Gather as much or as little evidence as you please." Coda gulped. It was one thing to give the death sentence to an assumed assailant, but it was an entirely different story to give the same sentence to the people helping to prove her innocence. "Report back here once you're ready," she said before sitting back down in a chair.

"Gawrsh, Coda, what was all that about?" Goofy asked the boy. Coda's face heated up with embarrassment. He looked at Sora.

"You look about the same age as my little sister, and you seem like a good person," he admitted, rubbing the back of his head. "It felt right to try and help you out," Coda explained.

"Well, thanks anyway," Sora beamed. Coda gave a short laugh. "Guess we'd better start looking then," he suggested.

"Do you even have a plan?" Donald pointed out, putting his feathered hands on his hips.

"Let's just start searching in that area first," Coda spoke up, pointing to an exit at the side of the court room. Sora nodded, and the four of them stepped into the hedge.

As they came out from the other side, they were met with a massive forest filled with enormous lily pads and vibrant lotus flowers. The trees in the area were large too, reaching towering heights and having thick trunks. Coda gaped in awe as he looked out to the scenery. Wonderland seemed so enchanting and peaceful (aside from the Queen). What could've attacked the Queen?

Suddenly, a purple, feline face appeared before them. Coda and Sora stepped back in shock. The face continued to disappear and reappear in various places before finally settling on a stump to their right. Much to Coda's dismay, the rest of the cat was dancing on its own head. After his little jig, the cat grabbed its head and placed it right back on its shoulders.

"Wh—" Coda could barely muster any words to ask about what nightmare he had just witnessed. _So much for the peaceful setting._

"Who are you?!" Donald cried, noticeably shook as well.

Grinning widely, the cat asked teasingly, "Who, indeed?" He stared back at the four of them, who all had expressions of confusion, fear, and shock on their faces. The cat continued. "Poor Alice," he dramatically sobbed in a drawn out tone. "Soon to lose her head, and she's not guilty of a thing!"

"Hey, if you know who the culprit is, tell us!" Sora told the cat.

"Yeah, we can't waste time if we want to save her," Coda backed the boy up.

"The Cheshire Cat has all the answers," he began to say. Coda felt his mood about the situation brighten up. "But doesn't always tell," the Cheshire Cat seemed to sing. Coda's mood fell down again. "The answer, the culprit, the cat all lie in darkness," he told them, disappearing into thin air.

"Wait!" Sora called. The two boys looked around to see if the Cheshire Cat would pop up again somewhere else, but there was no sign of the purple feline.

"They've already left the forest," his voice suddenly echoed around them. "I won't tell which exit," he sang again. "There are four pieces of evidence in all. Three are a cinch to find," the cat began to explain. "The fourth is tricky. Big reward if you find them all." They waited again to hear more clues as to where the fourth piece of evidence was hidden, but the voice never came.

"Should we trust him?" Donald spoke up.

"To trust or not to trust?" The Cheshire Cate appeared back on the log, surprising the group again. "I trust you'll decide!" Then, he disappeared again.

"I think we should," Sora told the rest of them.

"I don't know," Donald mumbled, tapping his foot on the ground as he thought. "He seems really suspicious," he pointed out.

"Still, it's the best lead we've got," Coda added.

"He said the culprit left the forest but also mentioned that there were two exits," Goofy reminded them.

Rubbing his chin with his fingers, Sora murmured, "That's right. He did say something like that."

"We didn't see anything come through here, so maybe it went through the other exit," Coda explained.

"And since it went through this forest, it probably left some evidence here too!" Goofy added to Coda's theory.

"Then let's start looking here. Sound like a plan?" Sora asked them with a determined smile on his face.

"Yeah!"


	21. Landing in Neverland

After about three hours at sea with Hook, Riku was glad to have finally landed. While the ship itself was quite cozy with its reddish, wooden structure and orange lanterns, having Hook around had gotten tiresome since the pirate constantly rambled on about how much he would've enjoyed killing of a boy named Peter Pan. His plans were messy and full of unnecessary details. Glancing at Harmonia, she seemed to be relieved too. Her face was a little pale, and she wore an uncomfortable expression.

"Sea sick much?" he joked, nudging her playfully. She flinched, at this, and Riku muttered a quick apology. He had forgotten how shy she could be.

"A little," she lightly laughed after recovering from her slight shock. Riku smiled and let his eyes wander to the isle they landed on. The ground was black and rocky, and a large center pool was formed from a small channel leading into the ocean. Across the island they landed on was another one with a massive, skull-shaped rock. Hook had told the two that the island was fittingly named Skull Rock.

"Maleficent said we're suppose to be looking for hearts of pure light," he reminded the girl of their mission.

Harmonia huffed and said, "I doubt there'd be any in this area," while gesturing to the bleak scenery.

"You're probably right," Riku laughed. His expression suddenly changed. "But we might find our friends," he pointed out, letting his aquamarine eyes drop to the ground. While he had agreed to help the fairy with her plans, Riku would much rather look for Sora and Kairi and not waste anymore time. He could only imagine what they might be going through, stranded in unfamiliar worlds.

"All right, Maleficent and I have finished discussing where to search," Hook announced as he stepped out of his quarters. Riku and Harmonia turned to the captain. "Skull Rock has already been searched, and there was nothing to be found. So you'll be searching around the Mermaid Lagoon and the Gully for a girl of the name Wendy, while I go look for that wretched Peter Pan," he explained before pointing a finger to the other end of the cove. "You can reach them from there." They looked and noticed an uphill path. Riku glanced at Harmonia, and the girl gave him a nod.

As they descended from the ship, the silver-haired boy wondered how they would get to the other side of the cove without getting wet. There wasn't any bridge, and the water looked too deep to walk through. Riku turned to Harmonia.

"Are you okay with swimming?" he asked. She looked down at her clothes.

"Guess I'll just use a fire spell to dry off then," she muttered.

Remembering that Harmonia carried her instrument on her, he asked, "What about your flute?"

"Oh, all instruments back at Northpointe are enchanted to be waterproofed so they don't take water damage while submerged or in the rain," Harmonia explained.

"Good to know." Riku stepped into the water first, expecting it to be cold, but it was actually fairly warm. Looking ahead, he saw a center island in the water and decided it would be faster to climb out on the platform and walk a little bit instead of swimming the whole way. The teen glanced at his new friend and pointed to the center island, and she gave him another nod.

As they swam, Riku thought about how they would go about searching for their friends. Obviously, they had to tend to Maleficent's orders first or else they would be facing fairly serious consequences. But then there was the matter of time. If searching for the fairy's targets took the span of a whole day, there would be no time left to look for Sora, Kairi, and Coda. And it wasn't like they could just visit any world they wanted. Maleficent had to be the one to take them there. Riku pulled himself onto the platform and extended a hand for Harmonia. She gladly took it and climbed up as well.

"Hook said the lagoon was just beyond this path, right?" the brunette asked, moving to get a better look at the other side of the cove. Riku nodded. From what he could see, the path they were suppose to take smoothly transitioned from the black stone of their surroundings to a lush, green area.

"Ready to keep going?" he inquired as Harmonia wrung out her hair. She hummed and nodded. They stepped into the water again and eventually made their way to the other side.

Once the two were back on land, Riku watched as a purple light emitted from Harmonia's palm. Her flute case unzipped, and the three pieces of the silver instrument were assembled. The fifteen-year-old watched in awe.

"Wow, that's amazing!" he gasped.

"Really? Assembling instruments is, like, one of the first spells you learn when you start training," she told him sheepishly.

Running a gloved hand through his hair, he reminded her, "Well, I've never seen anything like that on the islands." Riku flashed a gentle smile at her so she would stop feeling too embarrassed. Giving him a quick smile back, Harmonia raised her flute to her lips and began to play a quick tune. It was fast paced and constantly ran up and down a scale. In a short moment, a small flame materialized in between them, sending waves of warmth in their direction. Riku could feel the water drying off of him.

Once Harmonia finished the song, the flame dissipated and the two were nearly dried off. The girl removed the instrument from her lips and put it back in its case. Riku found himself amazed once more at Harmonia's display of magic.

"Um, are you ready to go?" the girl inquired, causing Riku to blink.

"Yeah," he murmured. Harmonia gave him a small smile, and he motioned for her to follow. He found it astonishing how much more comfortable Harmonia was around him. For the majority of yesterday, she would hardly say two words to him before running away. After they finally talked, she started responding more and stopped avoiding him. It felt comforting to know that he at least had another friend with him.

As they walked up the path Hook had told them to follow, they were met with a deep blue, glittering ocean and vibrant, green vegetation. It was a stark contrast to the cove they had just exited. The scenery felt like something out of a dream. There was no time to take a break however. The sooner they found this Wendy person, the sooner the two could go about searching for their friends in this world.

There didn't seem to be anyone around as they looked behind various boulders and bushes. Riku let out a sigh as they searched the empty area before suggesting they keep walking to the lagoon. As they made their way to the over, he let her ask any other questions she had in mind. He told her about the different places on the play island like the treehouse. A smile crept on his face as he thought back to the many games the three of them made up in that treehouse. Then there was the Secret Place. Riku and Sora had found it when they were young. Sora thought there was a monster hiding in the small cave, but when they got inside, it was empty save for a wooden door without a means of opening it. After finding the place, the boys would often make up stories of heroes saving the world and drawing it out on the stone walls.

"On Kairi's first day on the islands, Sora and I took her to the play island," Riku began to explain. "Some kids were... bothering her, so Sora took her to the Secret Place to make up for it," he elaborated, trying to keep a straight face. It wasn't fair what happened that day.

"Sounds awful," Harmonia murmured in a sympathetic voice. Riku hummed.

"It was." He cleared his throat. "Sorry for being a downer there for a bit," he apologized.

Shaking her head, she said, "No, I guess those things slip out sometimes." Her fingers wrapped around the strap of her flute case. "It sounds like the three of you really care about each other."

"What about you?" Riku asked, trying to move on from the subject. "You said there was a forest behind your house?"

"Yeah, Coda and I used to play there all the time," she answered.

"Used to? Did something happen in the woods?"

"No, actually. When he started his mage training, Coda joined a youth orchestra group, made some friends, and stopped going into the forest," Harmonia explained solemnly. The grip on the case's strap grew tighter. "But everyday, when he comes home, he always talks to me and sometimes he'll give me sheet music he stole from the flute section." Riku laughed at that last detail.

"You two seem pretty close too," he pointed out between laughs.

"Still, it's not the same as before," she continued to lament. Riku debated on whether or not he should try to comfort her, but as he was about to reach out to her, Harmonia pointed and said, "I think we're here now." The silver-haired boy moved his gaze ahead.

Multiple rocks jutted out of the water with flat tops. Emerald moss covered the peach colored stones. Like the cove, water from the ocean flowed into the area through various channels. The water here was also somewhat clearer. From where Riku and Harmonia stood, there was no path down to the water. It was a sharp drop down.

Another thing Riku noticed is that there was an absence of mermaids, or at least, he did not see anything that resembled the idea of a mermaid that he had come to know. Again, it was just a quiet, barren area.

"Weird name for a place that's empty," Riku spoke up, feeling a little underwhelmed.

"Yeah," Harmonia agreed. As the fifteen-year-old took a step forward, seven Heartless appeared in front of them. These ones seemed a little different from the ones he knew Maleficent controlled. The Heartless Maleficent had control over were mostly shadows and some others usually found in Hallow Bastion.

Some of the Heartless before them looked like bouncing, blue bags with pointy, straw hats. The rest resembled divers with their large helmets and clear visor. They were armed with sharp spears. Both types wore the emblem the witch told them about.

"Riku, Maleficent gave you that sword already, right?" she asked as the hostile monsters crept forward.

Stretching his hand out, Riku answered, "Yeah, so let's hope this works." In less than a second, a sword in the shape of a wing appeared in his palm. The wing was composed of a deep navy blue and violet outline that shaped the dark, crimson web of the wing. One of the most defining features was a bright blue, inhumane eye with an elongated pupil located in the middle of the guard. Riku glanced over at Harmonia, who had already raised her flute to her lips.

Riku lunged at one of the Screwdivers first, striking at the Heartless's body. It staggered back a few inches, only to recover in a brief moment. The other two pointed their spears at the teen.

As he got ready to block the attacks, a song played above the commotion. His blue-green eyes moved to Harmonia, who was playing a song he had not heard yet. Seeing an icy wind blowing in from her direction, he jumped back to avoid it. The Screwdivers noticed the wind too late and froze in place.

"Did I hit you?" Harmonia called, clutching her free hand.

"No, I'm good," he answered. Riku easily slashed through the frozen Heartless, their bodies shattering instantly as his blade made impact with them. As they dissipated, hearts floated into the air before disappearing.

While the Screwdivers took a great deal of damage from Harmonia's blizzard spell, the Blue Rhapsodies seemed to glow with her magic. They were focused on her now. Powerful blasts of blizzard magic flew in her direction, and the girl ran out of the way. Riku went after them, hitting them whenever he could. The Heartless constantly moved up and down, making it difficult to aim any attacks at them.

"Ni, this way!" he called her. Harmonia made her way over to him, dodging the various ice attacks.

As she reached him, she said, "Sorry, I didn't realize they were blizzard creatures." Riku stretched an arm out in front of her.

"It's fine. Can you hit all of them with a fire spell?" he asked.

"Yeah, I think I still have some energy for that," she answered, bringing the instrument to her lips once more. The song from before sounded again. A blaze appeared before her and began to grow in size. The Heartless continued to send spells in their direction. Riku blocked all of them with ease. As the song approached its end, he heard Harmonia continue the scale even higher.

Upon reaching the last note, the flame flew upwards before bursting into smaller embers. The flares hit the Heartless, making each one disappear.

"Well, that was different from before," Riku pointed out, dismissing his sword.

"Yeah," Harmonia gave him a winded response. "Each spell has different variations for different effects," she explained.

"Tired already?" he joked.

"I didn't expect to use so much energy to dry us off back there," she told him, putting her flute back in its case. Riku nodded to show he understood then looked back down into the emtpy lagoon.

"Maleficent said Heartless are born when people lose their hearts, right?" he asked. If there were suppose to be mermaids in this area, why was it so lifeless? The water was still, and the only sounds around them were various animals.

"You don't think..." he heard the girl begin to say.

"It's either they were turned into Heartless, or they fled deeper into the water," Riku murmured, keeping his aquamarine eyes on the lagoon.

"We just took out those Heartless," Harmonia whispered. She sounded shaken at their realization.

"Let's just hope their hiding somewhere," he started to say. "And besides— it's not like those Heartless are people anymore." The boy spoke in the steadiest voice he could muster as an attempt to ease her thoughts. The two were silent for a moment. Riku would have been lying if he said he was fine right now. If these monsters were in other worlds, then Sora and Kairi were in huge danger.


	22. Trickery in the Shadows

As it turns out, the forest was filled with Heartless. Sora, Coda, Donald, and Goofy had fought their way through with enough ease however. The brunette had learned that Coda was another magic user who casts spells by playing music. He also explained to the violinist that the Heartless were a threat to be reckoned with, and that it was important that they defeat them. Coda gladly helped them deal with the Heartless as they searched.

Finding the first three bits of evidence was easy, just as the Cheshire Cat had told them. The first piece of evidence were some large footprints that resembled jester shoes. The next one was a broken antennae on a lilypad. And the third was in the Bizarre Room, but the group had to take a special entrance to get there. They hadn't noticed it before when they were in the room earlier, but there was a strange, gasoline-like smell. It was as if something was using gas to try to burn something else.

"Well," Sora started to say, crossing his arms. Jiminy sat on his shoulder, writing down everything he could about the evidence they just found. "I guess those were the three easy ones," he muttered, letting his sky blue eyes wander around the room.

"The Cheshire Cat wasn't lying about the fourth clue then," Goofy added, scratching his head. As Sora looked at his surroundings, he noticed how distracted Coda seemed to be at the moment. The older boy kept moving around anxiously.

Walking up to him, Sora asked, "Are you worried about Alice?" Coda turned to him.

"Of course," Coda answered, moving his gaze away for a moment. "That trial is biased towards the Queen, and Alice is in danger if these clues we've been finding don't help," he elaborated, playing with his sleeve with the other hand.

"Yeah, you're right," Sora murmured.

"Sorry, I didn't mean to upset you," the other boy quickly apologized, reaching out to him.

Sora smiled at Coda. "It's fine. We'll just break her out if it doesn't work!" he laughed, making the others giggle as well. As the fourteen-year-old stared up at the taller boy, he noticed something on a shelf. The pink paint had been disturbed, and the wood looked damaged. "Hey guys, is that it?" he directed them to the strange mark on the shelf across the room.

"It must be!" Donald beamed. "But, uh, how do we get there?" the duck asked. Sora looked down at the floor. They could easily make their way over by running across, but then there was the matter of climbing up.

"Um, I think I might have a solution," Coda broke in. He was holding his violin.

"Do ya really?" Goofy asked, putting his hands together in excitement.

The violinist turned to Sora and began to explain, "I have a spell that can transport a target to a place as long as I can picture it." Sora's eyes widened in amazement.

"You can really do that?" he gawked, excited to see the spell in action.

"It might take a few tries to get you there, but I think I can do it," Coda admitted, clutching his bow. The sixteen-year-old took a deep breath. "Just, stay still, and I'll try my best," he instructed. Sora nodded and turned to face the shelf.

A song began to play on the stringed instrument. He could see a dark, blue light shining behind him. It grew brighter and brighter until the boy was engulfed by it. Sora shut his eyes tight. Some how, he was moving fast through the air— as if he was flying, but he could not see anything past the bright light.

After a few seconds, his feet touched solid ground. The blue light that surrounded him was quickly fading away. Cracking one eye open, Sora saw that he was on that pink, wooden shelf now. It worked. Coda's spell actually sent him across the room.

Sora turned to face his friends and waved at them to show he made it. He could see Donald jumping up and down in excitement.

"Now, what do we have here?" he wondered out loud. He walked over to where he had seen the strange marks. A gasp left his parted lips as the boy stared at large, anrgy gashes in the wood. There was some charring around the marks too.

"Gosh, must've taken a real monster to make these!" Jiminy gasped as he climbed out of Sora's hood.

"Yeah, it doesn't look like it's from anything we've seen so far," Sora reasoned, trying to think about the Heartless they had encountered. Only the Shadows and Soldiers used claws, but none of them were big enough to make marks this huge. Those Heartless weren't partial to fire either.

As the cricket finished jotting down the information and reasoning, he chirped, "All right, I got it all!" before closing the journal. The two covers made a quick thud as they hit each other.

"Great— let's go save Alice now!" Sora cheered, balling his gloved hand up into a fist. He turned back to the rest of the gang and flashed a thumbs up. From what he could see, Coda gave him a sign back. Soon enough, the same song played back again, and Sora was engulfed in the blue light.

Once the light faded, he found that he was on the table where the bottles were. His friends were still on the other side of the room. Sora exchanged a confused glance with Jiminy before looking back at Coda, who was receiving a scolding from Donald.

"Uh, Coda, wasn't I suppose to be back there already?" he asked.

Coda stopped arguing with Donald and turned to him. "Y-Yeah, sorry about that. Let me try that again."

It took a while before Coda was finally able to bring Sora back to where the rest of the group was waiting. The spell had sent the fourteen-year-old to various places around the room. Sora had found himself on top of lamps, under the table, and even almost in the stove, but eventually, Coda got it right. Once Sora was back, the older teen apologized about the delay.

As they started to leave, a familiar voice sang out, "Well, look what you've found. Nice going." Sora turned to see the Cheshire Cat perched on a small ledge above them. His yellow eyes seemed to laugh.

"Now we can save Alice," Sora beamed.

"Don't be so sure," the feline warned, his face still plastered with that wide grin. The group stared at the cat in confusion. _We have the evidence,_ Sora thought. _What could go wrong now?_ As if he had read his mind, the Cheshire Cat reminded them, "She may be innocent, but what about you?"

Confused still, Sora asked, "What do you mean?" The cat tilted its head a little, and it's smirk seemed to widen.

"I won't tell," he chuckled much to Sora's dismay. "But I'll give you something." The teen watched as the Cheshire Cat hopped down to their level. He sat down in front of Sora and motioned for the boy to bend down with a flick of his tail. Kneeling before the cat, Sora watched as it extended a paw out to him. A pale blue shard glowed in the center of his paw.

The brunette reached out for it; it was cold to the touch. The shard disappeared soon after Sora made contact with it.

"What was that about?" he asked the tom, standing up again.

"A gift from me, to you, and for the culprit," the Cheshire Cat answered ominously before disappearing. The Keyblade then materialized in his palm, and the tip glowed that same shade of blue before launching a cold blast.

"It looks like you have blizzard magic now," Donald applauded, looking as if he were the one to teach Sora the spell.

"Might come in handy," Coda added.

Stepping onto the podium where Alice stood before, Sora prepared to present the evidence they had found. He felt confident about this. Coda, Donald, and Goofy were behind him.

The Queen of Hearts looked down on him with a bored expression as she ordered, "Now, show me what you have found." Jiminy handed Sora the pieces of paper where the information was rewritten to be presented in court. With a confident grin on his face, Sora laid out the paper on the table. "Well," the Queen started to say, her expression remaining unchanged. "That's certainly a lot of evidence, but I'm still not impressed," she huffed with a snobbish tone. "Cards! bring forth my evidence!" she commanded.

Sora watched as the four pieces of paper he laid out were placed into identical, pink, gift boxes. A fifth piece of paper was added as well, and the boxes were shuffled. Sora could hardly keep track of their movement.

"Hmm, checking all five boxes would only be a waste of time," she grumbled, rubbing her chin with a free hand. There was a moment of silence as she thought. Then, she pointed her staff at Sora. "All right then, choose the one you wish to present. I'll decide who's guilty based on that evidence," she told him.

Sora frowned. "What? After all the trouble of collecting it?" he asked incredulously. The Queen started to grow furious.

"You dare object?!" she demanded, slamming her fist down. "Then you will lose your head!" she fumed, pointing an angry finger at Sora. "Now choose! One box!" she demanded. Sora flinched at her tone before quickly averting his gaze to the boxes. His face burned as he tried to decide which one would have his evidence. It was a four-of-five chance that he would pick his evidence, but what if he chose wrong? When they were shuffled, he hadn't kept an eye on where the Queen's evidence was.

Walking down to the boxes, he looked at them carefully. Sora shook his head then. _If we really have to break Alice out, then we're gonna break her out!_ he inwardly cheered himself on. He chose at random, pointing to the fourth box on the right.

"Are you certain?!" the Queen asked, still infuriated. "No second chances!" she warned.

"I'm sure," Sora answered, crossing his arms.

"Now, we shall see who the real culprit is," the Queen spoke. The box opened, releasing a cloud of magic. Sora's mouth fell agape as Goofy, Donald, and Coda appeared where the box had been. His blood ran cold. They looked just as surprised as he was.

"But, how?" he asked, turning to the spot he remembered they were at. "Weren't you over..." Sora trailed off as he looked at the empty spot. Within seconds, the three of them were thrown into cages that resembled birdcages with pink bars.

"What?! So you're the culprits!" she accused, pointing at him again.

"Wait! This can't be right," Sora argued, putting his hands out.

"You're all guilty!" the Queen proclaimed. Turning to the cards, she ordered, "Seize them!"

"Sora! Do something!" he heard Donald cry.

Summoning his Keyblade, Sora shouted, "We have no choice! Let's take 'em!" to his friends. Most of the stands disappeared. A tower appeared in the center, and a spade card began turning the gears. The cage Alice had been kept in (which had been covered when Sora returned with the evidence) was raised up to the Queen's level.

"Cards!" the Queen called to them. They looked up at her. "If they touch the tower, you lose your heads!" she growled. Sora ran past the approaching cards. His friends were up ahead.

A song sounded above the commotion, and a blue light shined by the cages. His eyes widened as he saw that Coda, Donald, and Goofy were free.

"That spell's really useful, huh," he said to Coda. He nodded.

"Get ready, fellers!" Goofy hollered, raising his shield.

"Sora, go after the guard tower— we'll hold them off!" Coda yelled as he jumped out of the way of an axe. Sora nodded and ran for the tower. His Keyblade struck the gears, wearing them down quickly. A red card thrust its spear at him. Sora rolled out of harm's way.

Donald turned to the card and sent a fire spell towards the it. It burned as the spell hit it. Sora gave the duck a thumbs up before moving his attention back to the tower. He swung his Keyblade at the base, cracking the stone. Realizing how weak it was, Sora struck it again with more force.

The tower collapsed, making the birdcage that held Alice drop back down to ground level. The cards moved there attention to him, blocking his way to Alice.

"Coda, get Alice outta there!" Sora called to the violinist as he blocked the cards' attacks. Goofy stepped in, pushing most of them back.

"What?!" the Queen of Hearts suddenly boomed, causing everyone to stop fighting. Sora looked over to see what was happening. As the cards stepped to the side, Sora could see why the Queen was so upset. "Where's the girl?!" she demanded, glaring at Coda.

"I don't know," he stammered, putting his hands up defensively.

Sora, Donald and Goofy walked over to the cage. Alice was gone.

"She must've gotten kidnapped while we were fighting," Donald suggested.

Turning to her card soldiers, the Queen yelled, "You fools!" as she slammed her fist on the table. "Find the one who's behind this! I don't care how!" The cards scattered quickly, leaving the four where they were. "That goes for you as well," she growled in a low tone towards Sora. Sora let out a yelp and motioned for the rest to follow him into the Lotus Forest.

As they stepped in, a flower bloomed before spitting a boulder. Sora's eyes wandered to the top of the stone to find the Cheshire Cat smiling at them.

"Have you seen Alice?" he asked.

"Alice, no," he dramatically answered. He paused and perked up a little bit. "Shadows, yes!" he chirped.

"Where did they go?" Goofy inquired.

"Seek the heart of this world, and you shall see the darkest shadows of the brightest lights," the Cheshire Cat mused before disappearing.

"Where do you think that is?" Donald asked Sora. The boy thought about all the different locations for a moment. The forest and the hedges made sense, but there weren't any shadows or bright lights in those areas.

Realizing that most of the areas lead back to the Bizarre Room, Sora turned to the group and said, "I think I might know where the culprit is." 

They were back in the Bizarre Room now. Looking up towards the ceiling, he noticed two lamps were unlit. Sora pointed towards them, and Coda and Donald seemed to understand. The two magic users sent small flares up to the lamps, making the area even brighter. The table in the center of the room cast a large, dark shadow across the floor, and on top, the Cheshire Cat appeared again.

"The shadows should be here soon," he cautioned them. "Are you prepared for the worst?" the cat inquired, leaning on an invisible surface. Sora was about to answer when the cat suddenly added, "If not, too bad!" in a singsong voice. As he disappeared, a shape began to emerge from the shadow.

Sora and his friends watched in horror as a tall, slender, vibrantly-colored Heartless loomed menacingly over them. Its arms were long and flat— almost like paper. It wielded a club in each hand.

"Wow, that's a big Heartless," Sora heard Coda gasp.

"Get ready, Sora!" Donald exclaimed, raising his staff. "Let's see how it likes my fire blast!" A flame appeared at the end of Donald's staff, growing larger by the second. The duck started to aim the shot at the Heartless's body.

Suddenly, Coda began shouting, "Wait, Donald don't use fire on it!" Sora turned to Coda in confusion before remembering the gasoline-like stench and the charred scratch marks.

"What?" Donald asked, confused. The flare shot up into the air, hitting the Trickmaster in its abdomen. It didn't even flinch. Instead, it raised its two clubs to its mouth and took a deep breath.

"Scatter!" Sora shouted. A powerful inferno flew in their direction. They ran just as the blaze touched the ground. Sora could feel the intense heat even after putting himself a good distance away from the attack. The boy lunged at its feet, but his Keyblade bounced off harmlessly.

The Trickmaster noticed this and swung one of its clubs at the boy. Goofy immediately ran in front of him and blocked the attack with his shield.

"Are you okay, Sora?" the dog asked in a concerned voice.

"Yeah, but we can't hurt it from down here," Sora informed him as they stepped away.

A cry sounded from the Heartless. Sora and Goofy looked up at the body to see it had been hit with a cold wind. It staggered against the the spell before slumping in its place. Its body was closer to Sora now. He looked over to see where spell had come from. Coda and Donald waved and gestured for him to start attacking. Giving them a curt nod, Sora jumped and swung the Keyblade at the body. It was surprisingly soft as the Key easily sunk into it. Sora jumped again, swinging his Keyblade. As the Key struck the body, the Trickmaster sprung to full height again.

Regrouping with Donald and Coda, Sora asked, "Can you guys hit it again?" between breaths.

"Don't you have blizzard magic already?" Donald scolded him. Sora pursed his lips.

"I don't if I ca— LOOK OUT!" The boy pushed his friends and jumped out of the way of the attack. The Trickmaster's club hit the ground, sending a shockwave outwards. It sent them flying back. Sora groaned and rubbed the spot where he had hit the floor. He looked up and saw the Heartless raising its clubs to its mouth again. The four of them ran, escaping the fire.

Sora noticed the table was still standing, and he had an idea. He hurried to the chair by the table and jumped. The boy landed on the seat of the chair and jumped again, clinging to the edge of the table. Pulling himself up, Sora could see that he was on level with the Trickmaster's abdomen. He ran as fast as he could before leaping off the table.

Sora swung his Keyblade at the body again, but it noticed him and blocked the attack with its clubs. The force sent Sora backwards. The Trickmaster was focused on him now. Its clubs ignited, and the Heartless raised it up, ready to bring it down on him. Sora raised an arm as he braced himself for the attack.

A screech pulled him out of his defensive position however. Sora caught a glimpse of the the ice magic Donald and Coda used again. They looked drained from all the spell casting.

"Sora, it's weak!" Coda called to him. "Hit it with a blizzard!"

Standing up, he asked, "How?"

"Didn't I teach you fire before we came here?!" Donald yelled irritably. Sora shrugged, but then again, there were a bunch of fire Heartless in Wonderland.

"Just point your Keyblade at it and say something like 'ice'!" Coda instructed.

"There's more to it than that!" the duck retorted.

As the two magic users argued, Sora noticed the Trickmaster preparing to attack them. It was getting ready to launch another inferno at them.

"Coda, Donald, watch out!" Goofy shouted, already running to shield them from the attack. The two stopped arguing and looked up just in time to see flames starting to ignite on its clubs.

Gripping the handle of his Keyblade, Sora pointed the weapon at the Trickmaster. "Freeze!" he chanted, trying to imagine a cold gale hitting the Heartless. His sky blue eyes widened as ice flew at the body. A bright light erupted from it, and the Trickmaster began to disappear. A heart floated up into the air before vanishing as well.

The four of them regrouped, catching their breaths.

"We... we did it!" Sora breathlessly cheered. He was winded from the spell. The boy put his hands on his knees, and Coda rested a hand on his shoulder. "How do you guys keep this up?" Sora asked between breaths.

"Eh, you get used to it," Coda answered, laughing lightly.

"Good thing we defeated that Heartless before it hurt anyone else," Goofy added with a smile. Sora and Coda smiled back.

"What a racket," a familiar voice complained. The group turned around to see the doorknob yawning loudly. "How's a doorknob suppose to get any sleep?" it groaned. Sora and his friends stared at the doorknob in disbelief. Donald looked ready to throw down with the brass object, but Goofy stopped him.

The knob let out another loud yawn, but this time, Sora noticed something glowing within its mouth. From what he could tell, it looked like a keyhole. Feeling a weight in his hand, Sora looked down to see his Keyblade had materialized by itself. There was a light glowing at the tip, and the Key seemed to be pulling itself to the keyhole. A beam shot out from the end and into the keyhole. Sora could hear a clicking sound in the air— as if something was being locked.

"What was that?" Donald asked, crossing his arms and tapping his foot.

"You hear that? Sounded like something closed," Sora pointed out. The sound still seemed to echo through the room. Suddenly, a multi-colored chunk fell out of the air.

"Okay, what the heck is that now?" Coda questioned.

Goofy picked it up and examined it before saying, "It's a gummi, and it sure ain't like the others. No, sir." Coda looked like he wanted to ask another question, but stopped. The dog handed it over to Sora. Looking at it, he could see that the gummi was mostly a light shade of turquoise with orange swirls. He smiled at the colors. They reminded him of Riku's eyes.

"I'll hold onto it for now," Donald told the boy, holding his hand out. Sora hesitantly gave the gummi to the duck.

"Splendid. You're quite the hero," another voice broke in. Sora and Coda immediately looked up at the table. The Cheshire Cat was standing there. "If you're looking for Alice, she's not here," he informed them. "She's gone! Off with the shadows, whisked far away from this world." Sora's eyes widened at the news. The Cheshire Cat vanished once more.

"No..." the brunette whispered. His hands clenched into a fist and his eyes fell to the floor.

"Sora..." Coda reached out for him. "It's... not your fault," he heard the older boy say reassuringly. Sora nodded slowly but kept his head down.

"The Cheshire Cat said Alice was taken to another world," he murmured softly.

"Sora, you weren't suppose to tell him that!" Donald scolded him. Sora flinched as he realized what he had just said.

Rubbing the back of his head, Coda admitted, "Actually, I already knew about other worlds." Sora's eyes widened at the violinist's words. "That spell I used to help you find the fourth clue can actually be used to travel to different worlds. Everyone back home knows about these kinds of places," he explained.

"So what are you doing away from home?" Goofy inquired, looking worried about the boy.

"I'm searching for my family. They went missing, and it's my fault they did," Coda explained solemnly.

"I'm looking for my friends too," Sora told him. "My homeworld was destroyed by the Heartless. You haven't seen a guy with long, silver hair or a girl with short, red hair, right?" he asked.

"Afraid not, and I don't think you seen my sister or dad either," Coda answered.

"Then we'll both be on the look out for them. And Alice too," Sora promised Coda, extending a hand out to him. He gave the violinist a wide grin, and the other boy gladly shook his hand.

Goofy thought for a moment. "Why don't you come with us?" he offered.

"Hard pass. But I'll be sure to take out any Heartless I see," Coda told them. "See you guys whenever we're in the same world!" he waved at them. Sora smiled and waved back. He began to play that song again, and Sora could now see that the light took the shape of a bird. The bird seemed to pick him up before disappearing.

"Guess we'd better go too," Donald spoke up.

"Yeah, we gotta keep looking," Sora beamed, ready to head to the next world.


	23. A Change of Plans

With the Mermaid Lagoon turning out to be void of anything but Heartless, Harmonia was beginning to think that either this Wendy person got smart and went into hiding or turned into one of the Heartless herself. Either outcome would not have been surprising. The girl was tired of searching every nook and cranny for some random girl Maleficent was not even sure she needed. Much like Riku, she would much rather look for her brother, or at least help the boy look for his friends. They had been searching the area just past the lagoon for about an hour now since this spot was more heavily wooded.

Harmonia let out a frustrated sigh as she looked behind another bush only to find there was no one. She glanced over to Riku. He didn't seem to be having much luck either.

"Anything?" she called over to him.

"Nope, just a big pile of nothing," he grunted, kicking some dirt. Harmonia could hear his footsteps approaching. As they searched, she could not help but think about the Heartless they had just encountered. She knew Coda had magic at least to help defend himself, but what if he got overwhelmed somehow? Harmonia began playing with the strap of her flute case again. She should have gone home instead of going to the cliff. It was her fault Coda might be in danger right now.

A hand on her shoulder caused the girl to jump. Looking behind her, Harmonia saw Riku and quickly muttered, "Sorry," to him. Riku looked at her, confused.

"You don't have to apologize for that, you know," he informed her, running gloved fingers through his hair. Harmonia was about to apologize again when Riku gave her a smirk. A soft giggle escaped her lips.

"So, think we should move on?" she inquired, getting ready to walk to the Gully.

"I guess so, but how about we stop looking for Wendy and look for our friends instead?" Riku suggested. Harmonia thought for a moment. They weren't getting anywhere looking for Maleficent's target right now, but if the fairy found out, she might punish them.

"Aren't you worried about what Maleficent might think?" she asked.

"Yeah, but I'm more worried about our friends. With the Heartless around, they're in danger," he explained, casting his gaze downwards. Riku had a very good point. As far as they knew, his friends didn't have any way to protect themselves. They had to hurry if they wanted to make sure their friends were okay. "What do you say?" Riku asked, wearing a confident smirk on his face.

Returning the gesture with a small grin, Harmonia answered, "Okay, I'm in." Riku let out a light laugh before walking further down the path. The flautist followed him, keeping her eyes peeled for any sign of Sora, Kairi, or Coda between the trees. As far as she could tell, there wasn't anyone there. On the bright side, there weren't any Heartless in the area.

Neverland was oddly empty for such a beautiful place. On their way to the Gully, they had noticed man-made structures, but there was no sign of anyone using or living in them recently. It was as if the world had been deserted. Harmonia frowned at this thought. If all the residents of this world were turned into Heartless, what were the chances their friends survived if they were even in this world?

Pulling herself up on a branch, Harmonia climbed up a tree to see if she could get a better vantage point. There might be a camp deeper in the woods that they could not see from the ground. As she climbed, she could not help but laugh to herself as she recalled Coda's fear of heights and how upset he would be whenever she hid in a tree. She missed those days in the forest. Once she found Coda, Harmonia decided that they would spend all day there and play games like they used to when they get back. She smiled with excitement at the thought, but then remembered how far she was to actually finding him.

Making it as high as she could climb, the fourteen-year-old scanned the surrounding woods. From what Harmonia could tell, there were no signs of any campsites, but it looked like there was a clearing up ahead. _That must be the Gully,_ Harmonia guessed, judging by the water pooling in from various falls.

As she descended, she heard Riku call, "Did you see anything?" Her feet touched the ground as she let go of the trunk.

"No, but we're getting close to that other area Hook wanted us to search," she told him, clapping the dirt off her hands. "We'd better hurry," Harmonia huffed, already walking forward.

"I'll race you there," Riku suddenly challenged her. She blinked and turned to him.

"You're joking." Harmonia waited for him to say otherwise, but the silver-haired teen just smirked. "Shouldn't we be looking in the area up ahead for our friends?" she asked.

Walking to what Harmonia believed to be the starting line, Riku countered, "You already said you didn't see anything from up there. Might as well just hurry to the next area so we can look there." She frowned, holding her arm. She knew Riku had told her the night before that he and his friends would often race or play swords with each other, but to carelessly run into an unknown area was dangerous. Feeling his hand on her shoulder again, Harmonia looked up. "You okay?" he asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine," she reassured him, smiling at his kind gesture. Ever since last night, he had been checking up on her to make sure she was okay. Harmonia pursed her lips as she thought. _He must miss his friends,_ she realized. "Okay, we'll do a quick race," the girl laughed. Riku's expression seemed to brighten up.

She followed him to the starting line. A large tree root stuck out of the ground, making it a perfect spot to start. As Harmonia made her way over, she looked at the forest floor. There were a lot of things to trip over, and she found herself thankful for having spent so much time in a forest. The terrain wouldn't be a problem for her for the most part.

"Ready?" Riku spoke up, already prepared to start. Harmonia gave him a curt nod before turning to the path ahead. She listened to him count down. Once he reached the end, the two took of them took off. She watched in awe as Riku easily passed far ahead of her. However, the various roots and thorn bushes seemed to be holding him back a little.

Taking this to her advantage, Harmonia sped up as much as she could. The flautist carefully made sure to navigate around the roots on the ground. She was closer to him now, but Riku was still ahead. She looked past the boy to see how far they were from the next area. The trees were starting to become more sparse, and the ground was becoming more rocky. They were getting closer to the next area now, but Harmonia was catching up too.

"Hey, I think we're almost there!" she pointed out between breaths.

"Yeah, and it looks like you're keeping up too," he teased, briefly turning towards her.

Laughing, she joked, "Cause I'm not tripping over everything." Riku gave her a short chuckle. They continued to run. His foot had gotten caught in a thorn bush for a moment, giving Harmonia a chance to get closer. The fifteen-year-old seemed to notice this, and with a burst of speed, Riku was far ahead of her again.

When she finally caught up with him, they had already made it to the Gully. He stood there with a cocky grin plastered on his face, and the girl couldn't help but roll her eyes and giggle. Riku brought something out within Harmonia— she noticed that as they were running, but she could not figure out what it was.

"Looks like I win," Riku smirked.

"Wow, you weren't kidding when you said you were the toughest kid on your islands," Harmonia giggled. Her eyes drifted to her surroundings. Water poured in from various cliffs and pooled into the center. Palm trees provided some shade from the sun, which was starting to begin its descent from its highest point. A look of wonder crept onto the girl's face.

"It's nice here," Riku whispered, walking next to her. She hummed in agreement. "Wish Sora and Kairi could see this," he added quietly. There was a sad smile on his face.

Bringing her gaze forward, she added quietly, "Me too."

After spending a few hours checking every possible spot in the area, they came up with nothing again. Harmonia clenched her hands into fists. There was no sign of anyone they knew, and it was getting late. She was beginning to think it was about time to head back to the Cove when Riku called her over.

Running over to him, she asked, "Did you find something?" with a hopeful smile.

Riku nodded at her, looking hopeful as well. "There's a camp just past this slope," he answered, pointing ahead of him once she caught up. Standing on her toes, Harmonia could see tents with vibrantly-colored patterns on them, and there was a tall, decorative pole too. They immediately hurried to the camp, eager to see if anyone they knew was staying there.

Once they entered the area, Harmonia immediately noticed various percussion instruments littered on the ground. She guessed that a tribe probably lived here.

"Looks like we're pretty high up," she pointed out, looking off into the horizon.

"Yeah," he murmured. Riku walked ahead and began calling out for his friends. No one answered. The eerie stillness of the area put Harmonia on edge. Of all the places they had already checked, she figured this should've been the one place where they would find somebody else— even if it was just one of the world's residents. There was a heavy atmosphere. Riku seemed to notice how strange this was as well.

Walking up to her friend, she whispered, "Something doesn't seem right," as she clutched the strap of her case.

"Yeah, it feels like... we're being watched," he agreed with her. Harmonia looked to the tents. She caught sight of a child's face quickly shrinking back into the shelter.

"Riku," she called to him, pointing at the tent. "Someone's hiding in there." Riku looked as if he was about to coax the child out when he stopped suddenly. He moved to put an arm out in front of the girl, startling her. "What was that about?" she cried, throwing a hand out to her side.

"They're hiding from something," he hissed under his breath. "Stay close," he told her, summoning his weapon. She understood. Letting out a shaky breath, Harmonia did the same. They stood still, scanning the area for whatever else was with them. A loud engine-like sound broke the silence.

Turning to the edge of the cliff, she saw a large Heartless hovering in the air. It resembled a ship, bearing massive sails and a heavy, wooden body. A figure, dressed in a coat and black hat, seemed to be steering the body. Other Heartless appeared as well; they also looked like pirates, but large, yellow wings stuck out of their backs.

Harmonia immediately brought her flute to her lips. The song for a thunder spell sounded in the air, and electricity began to spark above her targets. One of the Air Pirates seemed to understand what the girl was trying to do and lunged at her. Removing flute, Harmonia jumped out of the way, but the spell was dismissed. The Air Pirate fell backwards as Riku countered the attack.

A blast sounded around them as Harmonia opened her mouth to thank her friend. Many fiery projectiles were closing in on the two. She fell forward as Riku pushed her out of the way. Quickly, she played the song for a barrier. A translucent, purple field formed in front of Riku, preventing the attack from hitting him. The Air Pirates focused on her again. As they dived for her, Harmonia stepped to the side and immediately started charging another thunder spell. Bright, yellow bolts came down on the winged creatures, killing of most of them and leaving the rest stunned. They fell to ground, unable to fly. Riku easily finished them off with a few slashes.

As she turned to take out the Battleship, Harmonia's eyes widened as she saw it ramming into her at full speed. A cry left her lips as the impact sent her flying back. She landed hard on the ground. Her body ached everywhere. She struggled to get up.

"Harmonia!" Riku cried, running in her direction. Bending down to her level, he asked, "Are you gonna be okay?" She looked up at him.

"I feel like every bone in my body should be broken," she groaned, rubbing the area she landed on. Harmonia could see the fifteen-year-old grimace at her words. His expression was dark. As Riku turned to the Battleship, Harmonia could sense something was different about him. Her eyes caught sight of a strange energy crackling around the grip of his sword.

The Battleship charged at them again. Putting an arm in front of her, Harmonia shut her eyes tight. A loud crack sounded in the air. Looking up, she saw a large tear in the Battleship's hull. It seemed too weak to fight back and disappeared. Riku stood there for a moment, looking to where the Heartless had just been. Then he turned to her and offered a hand.

Harmonia gratefully accepted it, and Riku helped her up. She winced as she stood. Even though her body was hurting all over, a healing spell would easily fix everything. Riku put a hand on her shoulder and looked at her to make sure she was really okay. There was a concerned expression on his face.

"What are you doing here?" Maleficent's voice boomed. They turned to see the fairy herself, standing before a portal she had opened. The fairy's face wore a twisted frown. "Hook's orders were to search the Lagoon and Gully for Wendy— you two should not be in the Tribal Camp!" she scolded them.

"We couldn't find Wendy anywhere," Riku snapped back, clenching his fists. Harmonia shrunk back behind him. "We couldn't even find a single person in this world!" he pointed out angrily. The fourteen-year-old could see Maleficent's grimace grow. "I'm not gonna waste time wandering around an empty world when I still have to find my friends!"

Pinching her nose bridge with her bony fingers, Maleficent reminded him, "We had a deal, remember?" She peered over to Harmonia. "And look what's become of you," she gestured to the many bruises that were starting to appear on her. The flautist flinched at Maleficent's tone. "Why does she look like that?" she demanded, turning to Riku.

"We were fighting Heartless," Riku growled. "A warning or some help would've been nice."

"She should not even be out here," Maleficent pointed out. "She should be back at Hallow Bastion," she fumed, causing Harmonia to shrink back even further. With a sigh, the witch continued, "While you two haven't found the girl, I suppose there is a mild success to be had here. That Battleship will make a nice addition to Hook's arsenal," before walking back through her portal. Harmonia hung her head low as the fairy disappeared.

"Hey, don't listen to her," Riku whispered, turning to face her. "I think you fought well. You had my back there," he smiled.

Smiling back, Harmonia gave him a soft, "Thanks." As Riku turned to walk into the portal, the brunette's grin fell. There was something about Maleficent's tone and expression that concerned her. It was as if the fairy had other plans for her. Taking a step forward, Harmonia winced at the pain. A sigh left her lips as she reminded herself to use that healing spell once she got back.


	24. A Glimpse

When Kairi saw the image the woman put on the projector, there was a strange warmth that spread through her being. A smile tugged at her lips as her pale, blue eyes gazed at the silhouetted, towering castle in the picture. It felt so familiar to her, even at the lack of clear details or the slightest idea of what that place was.

It had been a few days since Kairi's last contact with Sora back in Traverse Town. When she wasn't in that empty space where she had no access to the outside world, she was observing from a vantage point of some sort. At least, that was the best way for her to describe it. Sometimes she could only see through Sora's eyes. Other times – like right now in front of the projector – she could walk around his surroundings, but she could never stray far from the boy. Sora could never see or hear her as well, and this always made Kairi upset. She was right there with him, but she had no way of telling him.

She walked closer to the picture since there wasn't anything else for her to do. As she approached, she could hear faint voices, but it was hard to make out what they were saying. Each step seemed to make them clearer and louder. _Maybe if I get closer..._

Kairi placed her hand on the image. To her surprise, she didn't phase through the canvas to the other side. Her hand seemed to move within the picture itself. The voices were louder now, but still not distinct enough for her to make out clearly. Letting out a shaky breath, Kairi hesitantly stepped forward into the image. As she passed through, she found herself in that strange space again, where she virtually no contact with Sora. The voices had gone silent. Kairi turned around to try and make her way back to the tent, but the canvas and picture were gone.

"What was that?" the red-head wondered out loud, looking above her. While she could not make sense of those voices, she was sure that castle in the photo was familiar to her. Looking at that image created a sense of comfort, like the relief one feels when coming home from a long day of work. Kairi slumped to the floor as she tried to figure out what that place was. "It feels like I know that place..." she murmured to herself, playing with her bracelets. "But, I don't remember anything from before the islands." Her fingers traced the inside of her bracelet as she thought. _That feeling from before— was it nostalgia?_ Kairi's face scrunched up. She tried desperately to hold onto that warm feeling. It was the happiest she had been since the islands were destroyed.

"I thought I'd find you here."

Kairi's head snapped up as she heard an elderly woman's voice break the silence of the space. Her eyes darted left and right as she tried to find the source, but there was nothing.

"Hello?" she called, her voice echoing through the space. The fourteen-year-old waited for a response.

"Picking flowers again?" the voice came again, ignoring her call. It seemed to laugh, but in the way a parent would laugh as they watch their child play.

Kairi looked around in confusion. From what she could tell, there weren't any flowers. Besides her, the space was entirely empty. She took a couple steps forward. A frown formed on her face at the unchanging scenery, and her hands balled up into fists. The only other person the girl was able to speak with was somewhere here, and she had no way of finding them.

It was lonely in the space. Whenever she found herself there, Kairi always felt so small and lost. The space seemed endless, with no borders aside from the floor. Kairi could feel her throat tighten as her head slumped in frustration. Falling to the ground, the girl hugged her knees close to her and buried her face. More than anything, she missed the islands. She missed her family. She missed Riku and Sora. Kairi could feel tears forming in her eyes. The girl blinked, letting them roll down her cheeks as she let out quiet sobs.

"I thought I'd find you here," the voice repeated. Kairi's eyes shot open. She lifted her head to scan the area again. There was no way she was gonna let this opportunity pass. With renewed determination, Kairi wiped her tears, stood up, and began running. She could hear those two lines repeating over and over. They never seemed to sound any closer, but they never got further either.

Coming to a stop, she put her hands to her lips and called out, "Is anyone there?" The voice only answered in its repeated lines of dialogue. She started running again. Kairi had to find this person or at least figure out why she was hearing this voice.

Up ahead, Kairi could see a small spot of red and green against the black surroundings. That must be it, she rejoiced, pushing her legs to move even faster. As she came closer, she could see a flower sitting in a small patch of grass. Her run slowed to a walk. Even though she was confused as to how the flower was even able to grow in a place like this, Kairi was excited to finally see something else. A smile pulled at her lips as she bent down to get a better look at the flower.

Its petals were a fiery shade of red with a bright, yellow center. It stood tall above the blades of grass. Kairi reached for the flora. A delicate finger brushed against the soft petals. She let out small laughs and closed her eyes. A sigh escaped her parted lips.

When she opened her eyes again, the space was gone, and she found herself somewhere new. Kairi glanced at her new surroundings. She was in a courtyard of sorts. The ground was paved with stone bricks. Various flora were growing in planters, spread neatly around the courtyard. There was a large gate in front of her, and behind its iron bars, she could see the large castle from the picture. Her eyes lit up with wonder as she gazed at the massive structure.

This place was new, but Kairi could still feel that strange warmth and familiarity. As the girl looked down, she noticed she was in the body of her four-year-old self. She blinked in surprise. Did she live here as a child? _No, I spent most of my life on the islands— I know that,_ she told herself. Still, wherever this was, it gave her a sense of comfort.

Kairi walked over to a planter that was dotted with red and yellow flowers. She giggled as she gazed at the vibrant colors. The petals swayed gently in the breeze. As they brushed against each other, the red-head could only think back to those days on the islands, where Sora and Riku would challenge each other to various competitions. Kairi stretched out her hand towards them. 

"I thought I'd find you here," an elderly woman's voice came from behind her. As Kairi turned, the woman chuckled, "Picking flowers again?" Looking at the figure approaching her, she could just make out a woman wearing a white apron over blue-gray dress. When the girl tried to get a better look at the woman's face, her vision blurred. Kairi blinked multiple times to try and clear her sight, but by the time she did, the woman was gone.

Glancing in different directions, she could see that the world she found herself in was still there. Part of it at least. Kairi walked along some of the paths, only to find that they lead back to that empty space. Not wanting to return to that void, Kairi made her way back to the center of the courtyard. She was back in her fourteen-year-old body.

"Who was that?" she breathed, putting a fist over her heart. Kairi's eyes fell to the floor as she thought. Glancing back at the walls and trees, she smiled, thankful to at least have something else in the space. Still, that didn't change the fact that this could be a piece of her past. Kairi was determined to figure out the rest.

The sound of Maleficent's heels clicked around the room as she entered. Her beady eyes met the gaze of the others waiting there for her. From what she saw in the orb on her staff, Sora had taken down another large Heartless.

"What drew the Heartless to that world?" Jafar inquired, rubbing his chin with his fingers.

Maleficent already knew the answer. "The hunter lured them there," she told him. She had been observing the Key wielder while her Heartless brought Alice from Wonderland. "It was his lust for power that was the bait. But it seems the bait was too tasty for his own good," she smirked. The others laughed too.

"Yeah, he got chomped instead!" Oogie bellowed through his laughs. He continued to let out deep chuckles, making everyone else in the room eye him down. Slowly, he ceased his laughter.

Clearing his throat, Jafar turned to Maleficent and added, "A weak-hearted fool like him stood no chance against the Heartless." There was a pause as Maleficent nodded at the information. "But the boy is a problem. He found one of the Keyholes," he urged her. Maleficent let out a sinister giggle.

"Fear not," the fairy assured them. "It will take him ages to find the rest." With a wave of her withered hand, a lime-green magic circle appeared on the center table. All eyes focused on the three figures – Sora, Donald, and Goofy – walking back to their gummi ship. "Besides, he remains blissfully unaware of our other plans," Maleficent reminded them.

"Yes, the princesses..." Jafar smirked.

"They are falling into our hands, one by one," Maleficent grinned, turning to her right. "Speaking of which..." Her Heartless had returned. Alice had appeared in the room now. She wore a terrified and confused expression on her face as she glanced back and forth between Maleficent and the others.

**Author's Note:**

> So, some of you might have noticed some slight changes in the dialogue along with some other differences. I'm only doing that so you can get a better visualization at times or because I think a certain character should have said something else. For the most part, this fanfiction will strictly follow game dialogue, but you can expect some scenes that seem like they would be from the manga.


End file.
